Strive For Easiness
by Game2002
Summary: The abusing of a certain kind of creature is causing the resurrection of an ancient evil, so the Smashers must do something about this before it is too late.
1. An Easy Beginning

_Yet saddest of all fates, surely, is to have lost that sense of the holiness of life altogether; that we commit the blasphemy of bringing thousands of lives to a cruel and terrifying death or of making those lives a living death—and feel nothing._

- Baker, Rev. Dr. John Austin

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In the darkness of the night, bright orange light was seen coming from a small clearing somewhere deep inside a forest.

In the middle of the clearing was a campfire, and gathered around the campfire were thirteen people who were all too familiar: Snake, Fox, Falco, Link, Pikachu, Pichu, Jigglypuff, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Captain Olimar, Mario, Luigi, and their pet parrot Parry. There were also a few Pikmin hanging out near Olimar.

There were also a few unfamiliar faces with them too. In front of a log that Olimar, Mario, and Luigi were sitting on were a group of yukkuris, an adult reimu and her seven children, three of them larger than the others. Of the three larger koyukkuris, two were koreimus and one a komarisa, and of the smaller ones, two were koreimus and two were komarisas. All of them were sleeping peacefully.

Pichu and Jigglypuff were both sound asleep too, but the same could not be said for the others. Instead, they all had grim looks on their faces. Other than the sound of the crackling of the fire and the soft snores coming from the slumbering ones, there was silence among them, but this silence was broken when Pikachu said, "So… what are we going to do?"

Nobody knew how to answer that question, but Fox eventually said something, "We can only wait for Master Hand to contact us three days from now… That's the only thing I can think of…"

"If only…" Falco said with a hint of anger. "If only it wasn't for the Destructor… then I would've… I would've…" As he spoke, the temper in his voice raised higher and higher. "I would've beaten the living daylights out of them and killed them all! Those people! There's absolutely no reason to show them any mercy! There's absolutely no excuse to let them get away with what they're doing! I really want to do the same to them as they do to the yukkuris! I really want to rip them into shreds! I really want to make them pay for what they've done!"

"Quiet, will you!" Snake said to him without trying to wake up the sleeping ones. "We all know how pissed off you are about all those abusers. I'm sure everyone here is burning with anger about their actions as well, but what can we do? Master Hand strictly warned us that our actions may speed up the Destructor's resurrection. In order to not make things worse, we need to deal with things as non-violently as possible! With PETY becoming even more active and dangerous than before after what we told them, I wouldn't be surprised if the Destructor's resurrection will happen in less than three months, so whatever we do, we mustn't make things worse than they already are!"

Fox patted Falco, who took a deep breath to calm himself down, on the back, and then the latter said, "I know… I simply couldn't stand it any longer… Honestly saying… The way the humans of this world are… If it weren't because for the humans in our world and the fact that I have faithful humans friends like some of you, I would've completely lost faith in humans and see them as my mortal enemies already."

"Whatever possessed these people to be so cruel and abusive towards yukkuris?" Link wondered. "Whatever has yukkuris done to them that they want to make their lives as horrible as possible?"

"You heard what they said already," Snake said. "Yukkuris are trash and scum that deserve to be destroyed. Even worse, some simply enjoy abusing them for the lulz, out of boredom, or to relieve anger!"

"Well, some can be justified by the fact that the yukkuris did property damage, invaded their houses, or were rude and such," Luigi said, "but even so, abusing them in such cruel methods is going too far…"

Olimar looked down at the sleeping yukkuris and petted the mother reimu as softly as possible to avoid waking her up. "Poor thing… The father and two children both killed in a single day, and shortly before the new babies were born too… Born without a father and losing two of their siblings before they even got the first glimpse of the world… How sad…"

"At-a least they managed to be born safely," Mario said. "Had-a we not-a arrive earlia, da entia family would've been killed…"

Suddenly, they all heard high-pitched screams coming from somewhere in the woods. "YUBEEEEEEEEEEH!"

"YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

The loud cry caused all the sleeping ones to wake up and the youngest koyukkuris to cry, so the mother comforted them by petting them with her hair braids. The Smashers looked in the direction the scream came from, and Fox asked, "You think it's what I'm thinking it is?"

Falco nodded and replied, "It's obvious. More abusers on the loose! C'mon, let's head over there and check things out!"

The three Pokemon, Luigi, Captain Olimar and his Pikmin, Parry, and the yukkuris stayed behind, while the others got up and disappeared into the darkness, in the direction the constant cries of agony were coming from. "Let's hope everything goes all right…" Luigi said as he watched them leave.

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A Game2002 production…

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SUPER SMASH BROS.

**STRIVE FOR EASINESS**

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**Chapter 1  
An Easy Beginning**

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Onett, a town that was, for the most part, usually peaceful, mainly thanks to the Smashers, who were seen as the heroes of not only this place, but also Eagleland. It's been a while since anything bad had happened, so life for its citizens was going very easy and relaxing, so relaxing that one might actually wish that something happened.

Captain Olimar, a biologist who traveled from place to place often whenever his job called for him, was driving down the street in his car that was built to look like a rocket, the Dolphin. Sitting in the Dolphin with him were a five Pikmin, one of each color type. Driving past Wario's house, he moved at a slower pace and greeted Wario and Waluigi while they two were cleaning the Wario Car. They simply waved at him and replied with a simple "hi".

He sped down the street and headed in the direction of Smash Mansion, which was visible not too far in the distance. He went past Barney the Dinosaur, who was happily skipping down the sidewalk while singing "I love you, you love me", but the former didn't greet him, because he was unfamiliar with him, other than the fact of having seen him before.

He finally arrived at the front gate of Smash Mansion, and he got off his car and walked up to the doorbell next to the gate to press it. Shortly after pressing it, the speaker above the button said, "Who's there?"

"It's me, Olimar!" he replied. "I came like I said I would!"

"Oh! We've been expecting you! C'mon in!" After the speaking ended, the gate automatically opened, and Olimar hopped back into his car to drive down the path leading to Smash Mansion. When he stopped in front of the gate, the door opened, and Fox and Mario came out.

"Olima! Welcome!" Mario said to him with wide open arms as he walked in his direction.

"It's nice to see you, Captain Olimar!" Fox said to him.

"You don't have to be so formal when calling me," Olimar told the anthropomorphic fox while getting off the Dolphin with his Pikmin. "We're friends after all!"

As he was getting his luggage from the car trunk, Mario approached him and picked up one of them. "Here! Let-a me help-a you!"

"Thanks a lot!"

"You go on inside," Fox said while walking toward his car. "I'll go and park your car at the garage."

"Oh, never mind," Olimar told him. "I can do it myself. I'm afraid the control panel is different from normal cars…"

"It can't be that different, can it?" Fox said as he sat in the car, and his eyes widened when he saw the control panel. Indeed, it was not the kind seen in everyday cars; the control panel resembled that of a spaceship's.

Olimar walked up next to him and looked at the control panel while saying, "Told ya…"

After parking his car, Olimar and Fox entered the mansion from the passage that led from the garage to the living room. There, Luigi, Falco, and Snake were both seen slouching on the sofa while watching TV, and Parry was on his perch. All four of them raised their hands, or in the latter's case, wings, simultaneously and said, "Hello."

"Hello! Nice to meet you all!" the Hocotatian greeted.

"Cheer up a little more, will you?" Fox asked the four. "You're giving our guest a bad impression, you know?"

"Can't be helped… Nothing's been happening for a while already, so it's very hard to get excited or acted up over anything, unless it's something big," Falco replied.

"I can't agree any better than him," Snake said with a nod.

"Actually, I prefer this peace and quietness, but I do agree that it does get pretty boring after a while, like now…" Luigi said.

"Life being a parrot can be boring, you know," Parry said. "Guess it's because I'm used to acting like a human so much that I'm feeling that…"

Fox led Olimar to a couch to let him sit on, and then the latter asked, "So nothing's been happening recently? Also, why am I under the impression that you guys are the only one home at the moment?"

"There's still a few of us still here," Luigi replied. "Several of us aren't home at the moment. They're either at work, went back to their homelands for vacation, gone somewhere for fun, or doing god-knows-what out there somewhere."

"I see… Well, I'm taking a break from my studies, so I've decided to come over and stay at your house for a few days for fun. Hope you don't mind."

"Nah, we don't mind. It's nice to have someone from the outside around here at times like this," Falco told him.

"By the way, want to see the photos I took of various kinds of creatures? Some of them are pretty cool! It should help you pass some time!"

"Why not?" Snake replied.

Olimar went over to his luggage and got out a photo album and handed it to those three to look at, and Parry perched on Falco's shoulder so that he could see it too.

As they were looking through the album, Luigi asked, "Wow, you really ventured into dangerous and uncharted places like these just to take pictures of these rarely-seen creatures?"

"Well, a biologist has to be brave and take risks," Olimar replied. "I have my Pikmin with me, and they are very well-trained. Don't look down on their sizes; they're very dangerous when attacking as a group! They're good at keeping you company too!"

"You like bugs, don't you?" Snake asked, still looking at the photos.

"Well, yeah… Even though I study all kinds of creatures, I have to admit that bugs fascinate me more than other kinds…"

Mario came into the room and said to Olimar, "I've put-a your luggage into da room you will be sleeping in already. You want-a to come and look-a at-a eet?"

"Sure! Why not?" Olimar replied, and then he and his Pikmin followed Mario out of the living room.

Fox joined the other four in looking at the photo album, and then the phone rang. Snake picked it up and said, "This is not Caesar's Pizza Palace."

"Force of habit, eh?" replied the voice on the other side.

"Well, yeah… You're Master Hand, right?"

This made the others turn their eyes to Snake and the phone. "Whoever is in the mansion at the moment, can you please all come outside?" Master Hand said to them from the other side of the phone. "There's something… urgent that I need to show you and ask you to do, so please hurry up. Oh yeah, bring as much money as you can too, and also your usual weapons, if you have any."

"Okay," Snake said before hanging the phone, and then he told the others what the Hand told him.

"Well, that's quite a surprise!" Falco said. "I didn't expect something urgent to happen around these boring days! Let hope it's not something disappointing!"

"If Master Hand wants us there at once, then we better tell everyone in the mansion to go outside right now," Fox said.

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Not too long after that, all those currently present in the mansion where standing outside the door. Other than the previously mentioned ones, Link, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Pikachu, Pichu, and Jigglypuff were there as well. "What's Master Hand want with us?" Pikachu asked.

"He said it's urgent," Snake replied.

"Hope it's not anything too bad…" Luigi said.

"He's here," Link said, looking at the sight of a large circular platform, the Final Destination, flying toward their mansion. The platform positioned itself vertically and touched the ground, and then the center of it opened and lowered a staircase for them to climb up.

They entered the Final Destination, which had a fourth dimensional interior, so it looked much bigger than it was from the outside. There in front of them were Master Hand and Crazy Hand. "So that's everyone in the mansion currently?" the former asked. "Where is everyone else? Oh, you finally came, Captain Olimar. Nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too!" Olimar said while waving his hand. His Pikmin did the same.

"Let's just leave it at 'not everyone is home at the moment', okay?" Snake told the Hand.

"Okay, if that's what you say… Anyway, follow me."

Both the Hands led them through some other rooms until they came to a large room that had several machines placed along the walls. "If I remember correctly," Fox said, "this is the room for researching and looking up on things related to Darkling, right?"

"Wait, does the urgent business you said have something to do with… Darkling?" Link asked.

Master Hand kept silent for a while, and then he moved his fingers up and down as a sign of nodding while saying, "Yes…"

With the exception of Snake, Olimar and his Pikmin, Diddy, and Donkey Kong, other Smashers' eyes widened in shock. "What-a! Did-a someone breach into da Forbidden Realm and became da Darkling King?" Mario asked.

"What is it about parking?" asked a confused Donkey Kong, who misheard what Master Hand said.

"Look at this first," Master Hand said, turning to what appeared to be a chart on the wall. The Smashers looked and saw seven bars on it, four of which were very high, while three were very low.

The three low ones were labeled with the words _Hater_, _Unbeliever_, and _Laughter_, the former being the tallest among the three and the one in the middle being the lowest. The four higher ones were labeled _Destructor_, _Player_, _Eater_, and _Manipulator_, and the former was the highest, while _Player_ was the lowest.

"Those labels… Those are the names of the Seven Deadly Incarnations, aren't they?" Fox asked. "What is this chart?"

"This is the chart indicating how close each of them is to resurrection," Master Hand replied. "As you can see, Destructor, Player, Eater, and Manipulator are the closest to resurrection, because the four of them had been destroyed for thousands of years already, but the other three are still very far from being resurrected due their deaths in the hands of some of you are considered recent compared to the other four. What I am concerned about the most is how close the Destructor is to resurrection…"

The Smashers looked at the Destructor's bar and saw that it was indeed dangerously close to reaching the top of the chart. "If I remember correctly," Link said, "the Destructor is the embodiment of death and destruction, and it is also the most powerful of the Seven Deadly Incarnations."

"The last part of what you said is exactly why I'm worried that he is so close to resurrection… The members of the Deadly Incarnations will be resurrected in places that have a lot of what is related to them going on, and in the Destructor's case, he will be resurrected in the place where lots of killing and destruction are going on. At this rate, I dare say that there is at least three months before he comes back to life, though it's possible for it to happen earlier if the situation turns for the worse…"

"That's horrible!" Pikachu said in horror. "Isn't there anything we can do about this?"

"Unfortunately, there is no way we can stop his resurrection. It's the cycle of life; Darkling is the embodiment of evil and will always exist as long as life exists. The Deadly Incarnations each represent seven different kinds of the sins found in mankind, and when slain, they will always be resurrected when the requirements are met, even if it takes a really long time."

"So there's really nothing we can do to prevent the Destructor's resurrection?" Pichu asked.

"There's nothing we can do, but in the very least, we can delay it. I did research on where he may come back to life, and I found out that in a certain alternate dimension, there's a large amount of massacring going on. It's highly possible that the Destructor will be resurrected there if we leave things as they are now. Not only can we delay his resurrection, but we can also make him come back to life in a place where we can deal with him more easily, and honestly saying, our world is the only place I can think of where there are people and things that are capable of slaying Darkling."

"That would be you Hands and our Holy Weapons!" Falco said.

"True, which is why I have decided to send you all to the world where the large amount of massacring is going on. You have to put a stop to whatever bad is happening there. That way, we can hopefully postpone the Destructor's resurrection to another…"

"Yes, we get what you said," Snake interrupted him. "No need to repeat things. Since we don't exactly have lots of time, you want us to leave as early as possible, right?"

"I've been aware of this for weeks already, so I think it's best that you guys set off today. Certain dimensions are not easy to travel to, so Crazy Hand and I tried our hardest to make a machine that allows you people to go to other dimensions. From what I know, that dimension has no contact with any other dimensions at all, which makes it even tougher, but we managed to get that solved in the end."

"Eez there anything we need-a to know about-a that-a dimension?" Mario asked.

"Well, I did a bit of research on it, and apparently, humans are the dominant species there. There are no anthropomorphic beings or any other kinds of humanoid beings, so some of you here may cause a ruckus with your appearances alone."

"That means the likes of me will have to stay behind?" Falco asked, sounding disappointed. "Man! I was thinking that I am finally able to do something interesting!"

"Don't worry; we have that solved too."

"Yep! You can always rely on us to make things undisappointing for you!" Crazy Hand said as he got out some bracelets.

"Undisappointing isn't a word…"

The Smashers looked at the bracelets, and Fox asked, "What are these?"

"These are Identity Bracelets," Master Hand replied. "By wearing them, other people will see you as someone different. You don't transform into someone else, but rather, it's an optical device that alters the light of your surroundings in order to make others see you differently. They're basically seeing an illusion. Because of this, you will not be able to see your own transformed looks unless you look in the mirror. Those of you who are not human should wear these on your arms in order to fit in with the crowd in that world."

The non-human Smashers nodded, and then they each took one for themselves and put them on their arms. The three Pokemon had very small arms compared to the others, but when they picked up the bracelets, they shrunk and became the perfect size for them. "Whoa!" Pichu exclaimed.

"They're made to be able to suit people of any size," Master Hand explained, and then he turned to Parry. "You want to go too?"

"Well, there's nothing to do here, so why not?" Parry asked. "Mind giving me one of those bracelets?"

"How about you just try to talk as little as possible? You may be an ordinary parrot, but I taught you to talk fluently, and then you just had to go and act like a human yourself afterwards…"

"Well, whatever you say… I guess if I become a human in the eyes of the people there and continued to flap my wings to fly, everyone will stare at me…"

"The tie actually suits you this time, DK," Falco said, looking at Donkey Kong from head to toe.

"What did you say about wanting me to die?" Donkey Kong asked him, sounding offended. Diddy whispered into his ear and told him what Falco actually said. "Oh, sorry for mishearing you… So… what do I look like?"

"You look like you'd fit very well in an office!" Crazy Hand said as he brought a large mirror over. The Smashers with the bracelets looked at themselves in the mirror to see what they had become.

Donkey Kong was now a muscular man wearing a brown business suit, Diddy Kong was a kid wearing a red hat, red shirt, and brown pants.

Fox was a young man with a hairstyle that resembled fox ears. Falco was now a young man with blue hair. Link looked the same, but his ears were now rounded instead of pointy, and his clothes had become contemporary clothing. Olimar was a short, pudgy man dressed in yellow clothing, and he still had his usual tuft of hair on his head.

As for the three Pokemon, Pikachu and Pichu had become a pug and a squirrel respectively, and Jigglypuff was now a pink Pomeranian.

"What the! Why are the three of us animals?" Pikachu asked in shock.

"Guess it's because the three of you are too short to be humans," Master Hand explained. "Suits you, don't you think? Jigglypuff looks really cute as a Pomeranian!"

"Jigglypuff likes this!" the balloon Pokemon cheerfully said.

"I don't look too bad," Falco said while brushing his hair backwards.

"As for the Pikmin, it's obvious that you're going to end up plucking more, so there's no point in giving them all bracelets… Just try to keep them out of sight as much as possible, Olimar."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind," Olimar said.

"Okay, I'll show you guys the machine for transporting you to that world," Master Hand said before leading everyone to another room that had a large machine with ring in front of it.

"Pretty typical-looking, don't you think so?" Fox commented.

"Okay, just to let you know, this thing isn't exactly perfected yet, so as of now, there is no way you can return by yourself without someone on this side helping out," Master Hand explained to them. "I'm afraid that I haven't even come up with a method of contact between both sides either, but rest assure that Crazy Hand and I will work on one as soon as possible and then contact you."

"Doesn't this make things risky…? What if we can't get back?" Luigi asked.

"I told you already that as long as there is someone on this side, you can definitely come back. I will get in touch with you again after a week. Rest assure that the world there is safe for you all to be in. Just try to find yourself a place to live in and have something to eat, and you'll be fine. You can pack your own things if you want to. Oh, one more thing, this machine is also designed to automatically change the currency you have with you into the one they use there, assuming that they have currencies there. That was why I wanted you all to bring money."

"That-a should-a take care of money problem," Mario said.

"Okay, you guys got everything clear? Are you all going to go? Or do you need to discuss a bit more on this? While I recommend that you deal with this as soon as possible, I won't rush you guys too, so please take your time, just not too long…"

The Smashers turned to each other to discuss this matter. "So what's your plan? We go there and put an end to whatever massacring is going on over there and then come back here?" Link said.

"If there is massacring going on over there, then wouldn't that make that world a very dangerous place?" Luigi asked. "I'm scared just from hearing this…"

"Better than staying here and doing nothing!" Falco said. "The author hasn't written a story about us since 2009! I'm dying for an adventure of sorts already!"

"Sounds pretty interesting! I'm willing to give it a try!" Diddy said with enthusiasm.

"I'm suddenly curious about the animals that can be found there," Olimar said. "I don't mind tagging along; so long as you will all protect me from harm. Not saying I'm completely defenseless, mind you…"

"How about the others? Shouldn't we leave them a message that we'll be gone for at least a week?" Pikachu asked.

"I'm sure the Hands will do that by themselves," Snake said. "Anyway, it doesn't matter what you think, I've decided to head over there and stop whatever bad is happening there. Like Falco said, better than having nothing to do around here."

The Smashers came to a decision, and then they turned to the Hands, and Mario said to them, "We have decided to go there! Please rememba to tell da othaz that-a we will be gone, okay?"

"Of course we will tell them," Master Hand said to him. "So are you guys ready? Make sure that you have everything you want to bring. I've taken a look at that world already, and it seems to be a very normal-looking place just like our world, with civilization and all, so you shouldn't have any problems fitting in or surviving."

"That sounds better," Luigi said. "Fine, then, I'll tag along."

Seeing that the Smashers had decided to go, Master Hand went to control panel of the machine and input the coordinates. A few seconds later, a blue swirling wormhole appeared on the large ring. "Okay, the portal has been opened. You can step into it any time you want. Just remember that you won't be able to come back. I don't know how long it'll take for you to accomplish your mission, and because I don't want to disturb you too often, I'll open up the portal again after a week."

"Yes, you told us all that already," Snake said.

"Oh, and one last thing: your actions will also affect the speed of the resurrection of the Destructor, so avoid killing and causing violence as much as possible. Try to solve most things through non-violent methods, okay?"

"Got-a eet!" Mario said with a nod.

"Gee… I'm not sure if some of us here can really do that…" Fox said.

With that, the Smashers said good-bye to both the Hands before stepping into the portal. After they all disappeared into it, the wormhole disappeared, and the Hands continued to look at the ring for a few seconds. "Well, there they go," Master Hand said to his younger brother. "Let's wish them luck. In the meantime, we need to make some sort of device that will allow us to contact them without actually using the portal."

"All right! Let's get busy!" Crazy Hand said.

* * *

The Smashers found themselves in a passage of blue swirling light, and in front of them was white light. "Seems like the exit is over there," Fox said. "C'mon, let's head over there."

"You'd think that guy would be skilled enough to make the kind of portal that would warp us to the destination the moment we step inside the portal…" Falco said.

"At least he's brilliant enough to actually build a dimension-hopping machine," Snake said. "C'mon, let's just go to our destination."

It didn't take too long for the Smashers to arrive at the light at the far end, and when they got close to it, they exited the gap between dimensions and found themselves in a grassy place with some trees in front of their eyes. After all of them had exited the portal, it disappeared, and then they looked around to see where they were. "Looks peaceful," Luigi commented.

"And there's a town, or a city, over there," Link said, pointing to the sight of buildings visible at the bottom of the hill they were on.

"Looks like we're in a rural area outside the city," Fox said. "The distance doesn't look too far, so we should be able to get there in a short amount of time just by walking."

As they started to walk down the hill, they suddenly heard a voice speaking to them. "Take it easy, misters!" it said.

"Did I hear someone say 'make it cheesy' just now?" Donkey Kong asked while looking left and right. Everyone then turned around and saw a group of never-seen-before creatures.

The group consisted of seven round human head-like creatures, two of which were about the size of basketballs, while five were much smaller. One of the big ones was blond and wore a witch's hat, and two of the small ones looked the same. The rest had black hair and a pair of hair braids decorated with red hair tubes. "Take it easy, misters!" the two larger ones said, and then the smaller ones said the same thing together afterwards.

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TO BE CONTINUED

And thus began what may easily be my most serious and controversial story yet…

For those who are unfamiliar with the yukkuri fandom of Touhou, here's a quick run-through: It started with someone attempting to draw Reimu's head using ASCII to invite other posters to "have some tea snacks together". Later, an ASCII of Marisa's head was drawn, and eventually, someone redrew those two pictures with color. Some time went by, an artist named Makako drew stuff related to these Reimu and Marisa heads, and also drew more characters in this style, most of them with bodies, and she also came up with the idea of these heads actually being living buns with red-bean fillings. Yukkuris started to become popular, and after Makako drew a comic of Kanako killing Sanae's pet yukkuri, violence towards yukkuris started to ignite people's interest. Eventually, yukkuri abuse became very popular on the Internet, and several rules and facts about yukkuris were established by fans as well.

I may be missing some stuff and have gotten some stuff wrong, but that's basically how yukkuris came to be in a nutshell.

Let me warn you beforehand that this story WILL contain yukkuri abuse, some of them being very intense. However, I do not wish that people jump to conclusions that this is an abuse-centric story and get turned away because of this or want to keep on reading, solely for the purpose of getting a kick out of seeing yukkuris getting abused. This story is NOT intended to be an abuse-centric story, and it is not really intended to be an anti-abuse story that mocks fun and insults all those who enjoy yukkuri-abusing either.

Still, I have the feeling that some of you are going to jump to conclusions anyway and say things like yukkuri crossover stories do not work well at all or that this story is intended to spite abusers, which I will admit I originally wanted to make this story because of that reason, but now, I'd prefer saying that I just want to make a yukkuri story that no one has ever done before. If any of you still wants to give me backlashes, go ahead. As Reggie Fils-Aime would put it: My body is ready.

Saying anymore than this may likely result in spoilers, so I wish that everyone is willing to give this story a chance before jumping to conclusions. Please sit back, take it easy, and enjoy this story!

Oh, one last thing: the size of the Pikmin in my series is different from canon and even SSBB. They only stand a few inches tall, so they have no problems hiding in people's pockets. Remember Nintendo's E3 2012 presentation, where there were Pikmin hanging out in Miyamoto's room? Yeah, I imagine them to be around that size.

God bless you all!

**Trivia:  
**1. Fox's "human form" is based off James McCloud from the F-Zero series, who in turn is based off the one from the Star Fox series.


	2. Uneasy Findings

**SBS Time!  
Dead Turtle: **If my intuition is correct, the city they traveled to doesn't seem to be in the Touhou universe. Or is it?  
**Game2002:** It's not.

**Chapter 2  
Uneasy Findings**

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The Smashers approached the group of peculiar creatures, who didn't seem to be scared of them at all. Mario bent down close to them and asked, "What-a are theez?"

"Must be life forms native to this world," Olimar said. "Wow! I didn't expect to run into a never-seen-before life form here so fast!"

"They look like… human heads…" Link commented.

"Now that you said it, I don't know whether to think they are cute or creepy…" Fox said.

"Chake it eajy!" one of the smaller life forms with black hair said in a high pitched voice.

Pichu, who was a squirrel in the eyes of that life form, approached it and said, "Take it easy yourself too!"

"Mister can chake it eajy! Reimu likes you!" The life form then approached Pichu and rubbed itself against him.

"Heehee! Your skin is so soft and nice to feel!"

"Misters can take it very easy, right?" the larger one with the witch hat asked. "Marisa and her family like to take it easy too!"

"Well, yeah… That's nice to hear…" Link said.

"Do misters have any sweet-sweets? Little ones are hungry!" the larger one with the black hair said.

"Sweet-sweets?" Olimar asked. "As in… something sweet to eat?"

"Yes! Do you have any sweet-sweets for the little ones?"

Olimar turned to the others and asked, "Got anything edible for them?"

Diddy took out a banana. "I did bring some bananas. They can have it if they want to, though I don't know if they like it or not…"

"Doesn't hurt to try," Olimar said as he took the banana from Diddy and peeled it before giving it to the strange life forms. "Here you go. Hope you like it!"

"Yay! Sweet-sweets!" the little ones happily said as they gathered around the banana to eat it.

"Thank you very much, nice misters! Misters can really take it easy!" the large black-haired one happily said.

"You're welcome!"

After the little ones had finished gobbling up the banana, their parents told them that they were going back home. They all said thank you to the Smashers before waving good-bye at them using their hair braids, and then they left in the direction of the woods. "Such strange creatures…" Snake commented.

"With an appearance like that, you'd think they're severed heads…" Falco said.

"Such strange creatures indeed!" Olimar said. "What surprised me the most is the fact that they can talk! I hope to learn more about them and what they are called soon!"

"You could've asked them what they are just now," Luigi said. "Wait, didn't the one with the witch hat call herself Marisa just now?"

"That sounds more like a name to me," Pikachu said.

"Okay, let's go to the city over there and see if we can find out anything," Fox suggested, and then everyone headed down the hill.

As they were walking down the hill, they spotted a couple more of the same kind of creatures flying across the sky, only they had wings, pink hair, and wore brown hats. "You saw that?" Luigi asked.

"Yeah… Guess these human head-like creatures are common in this world…" Olimar said. "This makes me even more fascinated about them!"

On their way down, they encountered more human head-like creatures, most of them being the first two kinds they saw when they came to this world, but they also saw a few other different kinds, such as ones with purple hair and rabbit ears, blond ones wearing red hair bands, and silver-haired ones accompanied by ghostly things.

Olimar suddenly stopped when he remembered something, and Link asked him, "What's the matter?"

"I better hide the Pikmin now," he said. "I don't have any pockets, however. Can some of you please help me hide them?"

The others agreed, and then the Pikmin ran to some of them to either hide in their pockets or underneath their clothes. The red one went to Mario, the blue one went to Link, the yellow one went to Luigi, the white one went to Falco, and the purple one went to Fox, who commented on its weight, but didn't have too much trouble carrying it.

After several minutes of walking, they finally reached the bottom of the hill and continued down the path that led into the city. Wanting to fit in as much as possible, the Smashers tried as much as they could not to be too amazed by anything unfamiliar they saw while walking along the sidewalk. Everywhere they looked, they could see these human head-like creatures frolicking around. Some appeared to be strays that lived in alleyways and trash piles, while some appeared to be pets, as they were seen tagging along humans happily.

"Since these things are all over the place, we better find out what they're called fast; otherwise, it would be awkward if we bring them up in a conversation with someone here and don't know what to call them," Fox suggested.

"I think we have the answer to that now," Snake said, looking at the side. The Smashers turned to see what he was looking at and saw the words _Yukkuri Pet Store_ written on a large window. Behind the window were various pet compartments containing various kinds of human head-like creatures.

"Yukkuri… So that's what they're called, huh?" Olimar said.

Donkey and Diddy placed their faces close to the glass, and a black-haired yukkuri, the same kind as the one they saw at the hill, happily bounced up and down and said something, but the glass kept them from hearing what it said.

"There seems to be quite a few kinds, but the ones wearing witch hats and the ones having black hair seem to be the most common kinds," Link said.

"Um… Eez that-a a kid over there…?" Mario asked, pointing to the inner part of the pet store, where a short kid dressed in red and white clothing was sitting inside a pet compartment.

"Looks like it, but her face looks just like these… yukkuris…" Olimar said. "I think we better head over to a place where we can find out more about these creatures fast. I believe the library may be a good place."

"What about the massacring?" Pikachu asked. "We need to find out what that is about too."

"This place looks very peaceful," Luigi said as he turned to look at the back. "I can't imagine what sort of massacring would happen here…"

"Perhaps newspapers will give us an insight on this," Snake said. "Libraries have free newspapers, so…"

So the Smashers decided to head for the library to find out more. After asking for directions, they managed to find their way to the library, and it wasn't that far from where they were either. It only took about a ten minutes walk to get there. When they approached the entrance, they saw a sign telling visitors what was not allowed inside, and one of them was animals. "It's the same for all universes…" Pichu commented.

"Can't be helped," Fox said with a shrug. "How about you Pokemon go and take a stroll around the place with Parry and then come back to report to us what your discoveries are, okay?"

"You can rely on us to get you the information you want!" Parry said. "I wonder if there are any parrots in this world." With that, the Pokemon ran off, while Parry flew somewhere. After that, the Smashers went into the library.

* * *

After being greeted by the librarian and asking her for directions around the place, the Smashers separated to go look at things that interested them. Obviously, Olimar rushed to the section containing information on yukkuri.

Fox went to the computer room to look up information on the Internet, while Falco went to look at the magazines. Snake went to the newspaper area to look for worthy information, and the others went to look at various books to see if they could find anything, though some of them went to look up things that didn't concern their mission.

While Mario was reading a book about plumbing, Luigi came up to him with a cookbook and showed it to him. "Look what I found, Mario. It seems that these yukkuris are edible and can be made into various kinds of dishes as well."

"Let-a me see," Mario said as he curiously looked at the various pages of the book. "Hmmm… You're right-a! Yukkuri cake, yukkuri pie, died-fried yukkuri, steamed yukkuri… There's quite a lot-a dishes you can make-a with them!"

"What made me lift an eyebrow is that fact that the… yukkuris are still alive when used for making these foods…" Luigi told him. "Just look at the photos. They're clearly crying and horrified at what would become of them. I know that lobsters and some other kinds of animals used for making seafood dishes are boiled alive, and there's even eating live octopi…"

"Maybe eet's just da same thing with theez yukkuri. Perhaps da fact-a that-a theez yukkuri show emotions makes eet uneasy for uz to look-a at. Hmmm… Interesting… Eet seems that-a theez yukkuris do not-a have blood. Instead-a, they are filled with things such-a az red-a bean, black-a bean, cream, custard, and such!"

"That appears to be the case too. So they're basically living buns? Anyway, I would definitely feel bad if the ingredients I'm going to use for making food show signs of sadness and dread… Guess it's something the people of this world are used to…"

"Hey guys," Falco said to them while approaching them with a magazine in his hand. "You gotta check this out… This is crazy and plain wrong…"

"What is it?' Luigi asked as he and his older brother looked at the magazine page Falco showed them. The page the anthropomorphic bird showed them was an article about a person's experience of torturing a family of yukkuris who ate most of the flowers in her garden. She talked about how she burned the parent's feet and then ignored their cries of plea as she pulled off the hairs of their children. After making the children bald and devoid of accessories, she ran them over with a lawnmower. After the children were killed, she proceeded to kill the parents by hitting with a rake several times. She described the entire experience as being satisfying and also said that the flowers had been avenged.

"What da…?" Mario said, not believing what he just read. "All those just-a because da yukkuris ate her flowas…? Eef eet were me, I would've just-a kick-a them outta, or in da very least, give them a bit-a of beating."

"I can't imagine the bloody mess in the garden after that…" Falco commented.

"Actually, there is no bloody mess… According to this cookbook, yukkuris do not have blood or flesh. Instead, different species have different kinds of edible fillings…" Luigi told him before handing him the cookbook.

"Really? That's interesting to hear," Falco said as he flipped through the book. "Oh, look at the next page too. There's another one about a guy's hiking trip and how he slaughtered an entire yukkuri family he discovered in a cave, and the reason for doing so wasn't given either."

"Oh my god… Why would he do something like that…?" Luigi said in disbelief while reading through the new article. "And why would they even publish such a thing in the magazine too?"

"Um, guys… Look what I found…" said Link as he walked over to them, showing them a book entitled Over 100 Creative Ways to Abuse Yukkuris. "You won't believe how… inhuman some of the contents in this book are…"

Falco took the book from him and flipped through its pages. "Geez! Who allowed such a book to be published? Even if all these photos are not real, the contents of this book are still…" Then he noticed something written on the last page. "Over one-hundred yukkuris were harmed and killed during the making of this book… Oooookay…"

"Judging from what I've seen, yukkuris do not bleed, but instead, they leak out stuff that either resembles red bean filling and cream," Link added.

"Yeah, that's what the cookbook implies too," Luigi told him.

"Let's-a ask Olima and see if he found-a outta anything," Mario suggested.

So the group headed over to where Olimar was, and he had his eyes glued to his book while jotting down notes onto his notebook. Mario called out his name, so the Hocotatian looked up and said, "Hey guys! What's up?"

"You found outta anything?" the Italian plumber asked him.

"A lot! And I can't wait to share with you all my discoveries too! These yukkuris are really fascinating! I've never seen creatures like them before!" So the excited Olimar told them everything he found out, ranging from the filling of yukkuris all the way to how they reproduce.

"Wow… For creatures that lack organs and things that are essential for living creatures, yukkuris sure are… complicated… Dunno if that's the right word…" Link commented.

"Have you found out anything about them being abused?" Falco asked Olimar.

"No," Olimar replied. "Why you ask?"

"We've seen magazine articles of people abusing them, and Link even found a book about yukkuri abusing…"

"You're here," Fox said as he came over to them.

"What did you find out, Fox?" Falco asked him as he turned to the latter.

"Well, I'm not sure if I really found anything important… I came across a pop-up ad about merchandises designed for… abusing yukkuris…"

"Say what!" Link said in surprise.

"I was curious about this, so I went to the website that is selling this, and you won't believe the things I saw there… Not only did I saw various kinds of gadgets used for hurting yukkuris, but there are even video demonstrations of how to use them! Those footages look real… However, the yukkuris do not bleed when killed or crushed. Instead…"

"Edible fillings come out," Luigi interrupted him.

"Exactly! How'd you know that?"

"You're not the only person to find out about people abusing yukkuris here…" Falco told him.

* * *

"Is this for real!" Snake said in disbelief while looking at the newspaper. The other Smashers except for Donkey and Diddy came to the newspaper area to meet him.

"What's-a wrong, Snake-a?" Mario asked him.

Snake turned the newspaper around for them to see. "Just look at this!"

Mario took the paper from him, and the others poked their heads close to it to read it as well. "A fun fair about-a yukkuris?" Mario asked.

"Read the article itself."

They all skimmed through the article, and then Link said, "Okay, so am I correct in saying that this fun fair has entertainment that involves… hurting yukkuris?"

"And in various 'fun and creative methods'?" Falco said. "Who would allow this kind of entertainment! Aren't the animal, or yukkuri, humane society of this place doing something about this?"

"Along with what Fox aside about stumbling upon a site that sells yukkuri-harming gadgets and the book about yukkuri abusing, I'm starting to think that yukkuri abusing is a hobby in this world, and a rather popular one at that…" Luigi said.

Snake then noticed Donkey and Diddy walking past the area, so he called for them and asked them, "Did you guys find out anything?"

"Sorry, we were too busy reading comic books…" Diddy replied, showing them a book with a cover of someone punching a marisa, and the title of the comic was _Fist of the Easy Star_. "It's actually pretty good, so I was thinking of heading over to the librarian to ask about checking out books."

* * *

The Smashers left the library, and Diddy ended up not borrowing the book after learning from the others about yukkuri abuse. They saw Parry and the three Pokemon outside the entrance. "Oh, you guys are back," Fox said to them. "Did you find out anything?"

"Um… Not sure if this anything important…" Pikachu replied.

"We saw a guy in an alleyway killing some yukkuris," Pichu told them. "He had both the parents injured and was laughing at them while holding their children in his hand. The parents begged for him to let go of their children, but that guy insulted them before throwing the children at the wall. The children splattered, and very dark red stuff that resembled red beam fillings flew everywhere! The parents were horrified, and then that person proceeded to kick and stomp the lights out of them until they were half-dead. He then left while laughing like a supervillain!"

"Jigglypuff is horrified!" Jigglypuff said.

"And would you believe this? Some people actually walked past the alleyway and saw this, and some even stopped to look at what was going on," Pikachu added, "but they didn't do anything at all! They just watched in silence with expressionless faces for a few seconds and then continued on their way! It was as if they didn't care at all!"

"Whoa… You're telling me that you actually witnessed yukkuri abuse with your own eyes?" Luigi said in surprise.

"Yeah, and judging from what you said just now, it seems that you have learned some things about yukkuri abuse."

"Yeah, that's true," Snake said to Pikachu. "It seems to be… something normal here…"

"Okay, let's go and find a place where we can settle down first, and then we'll talk about what we saw and learned," Fox suggested. "We need to try to get ourselves familiar with this world as much as possible before jumping to conclusions."

The Smashers agreed, and then they walked along the sidewalk. It didn't take too long for them to come across a marisa asking a passerby, "Mister, do you have any sweet-sweets? Hand over some sweet-sweets!" That person responded by kicking her into the alleyway, and then he went in there. The Smashers stood still in shock when they heard crying coming from within there, and when it finally ended, the guy came back out humming happily and continued on his way down the sidewalk.

The Smashers walked up to the alleyway and looked at the marisa in there. "Um… I don't think orange juice is going to save it anymore…" Olimar commented.

"Orange juice?" Pichu curiously said.

"Orange juices are like medicines to yukkuris. They are capable of bringing them back to top condition in a matter of seconds, so long as they are still alive or in one piece.

"What was with that guy…?" Diddy asked. "All it did was asked him for something sweet to eat… He could've just said no to it…"

Because the marisa was more or less dead and beyond hope of being saved, the Smashers continued on their way, still horrified at what they just witnessed. As they were walking past a TV store, the TVs placed behind the window suddenly broadcasted a commercial that grabbed their attentions. "Yukkuri Fun Fair starting in two days!" the voice in the TV said.

"The same festival written in the newspaper?" Snake curiously said.

"Here, you can have all sorts of funs with yukkuris! Yukkuri shooting range, yukkuri homerun practice, yukkuri hammering! Come and enjoy all these super fun games!" The commercial showed shots of yukkuris being shot down by rifles, getting thrown at batters and then whacked into the air, and people smashing yukkuris with hammers.

The Smashers' eyes were wide open, and they stood in silence throughout the whole duration of the commercial. Even after the commercial ended, they remained silent and still for several seconds, and this made passersby stare at them. Eventually, Luigi broke the silence. "What… is… this… I… don't…?"

"Yukkuri Fun Fair," Snake replied.

* * *

That night, the Smashers were lodging in an inn they found. "Not a bad place for a price like this!" Link said as he lied down on a bed that was large enough to sleep at least three people. "Two rooms for a price that normally wouldn't be enough for a single room in even a four-star hotel!"

"This place is pretty cheap all right," Snake said, looking around the place. "Despite the price, the quality is pretty good."

"Didn't expect credit cards from our world to work here too," Fox said, looking at his credit card before putting it into his wallet. "Guess it's the work of the portal Master Hand made, just like with our money."

Pichu, Pikachu, and Jigglypuff were at the balcony, watching the night scene, and the former was looking through a pair of binoculars he borrowed from Snake. "I spy with my little eyes…" the electric rodent said. "A banana peel on the ground!"

"Okay…" Pikachu said.

"I also spy a yukkuri sleeping on the sidewalk with her two children! Those kinds are called reimus, I believe… They look so cute when they're sleeping! Oh, what's this? A guy stopped his motorcycle nearby and walked up to them with a golf club!"

"What?"

Pichu continued looking through the binoculars. "That guy… He just picked up a koyukkuri without waking it up… He placed it onto the sidewalk again, in front of its family. Now he's raising his… Uh oh… Don't tell me… he's… He's… OH MY GOD!"

His cry caused the other Smashers in the room, which consisted of Snake, Fox, Falco, and Link, to rush over. "What happened?" Fox asked.

"Some guy just whacked a koyukkuri away as if it's a golf ball!" Pichu replied with a horrified look.

Snake took the binoculars from him and looked through it. "He's picking up another koyukkuri… He's… Fore…"

"This isn't something to joke about…" Link said to him.

"The mother, or father, woke up and is confused at where her, or his… Argh… I'll just refer to her as a female, since she looks feminine… Anyway, she's confused at where her children are, and that guy simply walked away while laughing like a maniac."

"How can he do that!" Pikachu angrily asked.

"The mother is bouncing around the place in search for her children," Snake continued. "That guy… He's… He…!" Then he lowered the binoculars while shaking his head.

"I can tell that he drove away on his motorcycle," Falco said, trying his best to make out the sight in the distance. "What exactly happened?"

"Roadkill."

"On the mother yukkuri?"

Snake nodded. Everyone was silent for a while, and then Falco asked him, "Got that guy's plate number down?"

"No. Why?"

"So I can track him down and give him a piece of my mind!"

The Smashers went back into the room, and some sat on the bed, while some sat on the floor. "You know… I'm thinking of something…" Fox said. "It's regarding our mission…"

"I think whatever you have in your mind now may be what we are looking for," Snake said.

Fox nodded. "Yes… The massacring that Master Hand told us about… It may be the yukkuri abusing and killing!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

**Trivia:  
**1. Fist of the Easy Star is named after the manga/anime series, Fist of the North Star.


	3. Easiness before the Storm

**SBS Time!  
ricky: **If my review offended you in any way, I take it back.  
**Game2002: **Don't worry; you didn't offend me at all. I didn't even know that your previous review is supposed to be something offensive.

Sorry for the wait… Procrastination and such… You know the case… Also had writer's block…

**Chapter 3**

**Easiness before the Storm**

* * *

Donkey Kong walked out of the room that he shared with Diddy, Mario, Luigi, and Olimar while yawning with his mouth wide open. The cleaning lady happened to be walking down the hall, pushing with her a cart containing various cleaning equipments, when she saw him. "EEEEEEEEEEKS! A GORILLA!" she screamed before running back down the hall, leaving behind the trolley.

Because her screaming was very loud, Donkey heard clearly what she said, and that's when he realized that he forgot to put on his Identity Bracelet, so he quickly rushed back into the room and closed to the door.

* * *

The innkeeper searched for the gorilla after that, but after not being able to find one, she told the cleaning lady that she must've been seeing things. Because the cleaning lady had been working a lot without resting lately, the innkeeper decided to let her have a vacation.

The Smashers quickly left, and Donkey felt embarrassed about the whole situation. There was a café selling breakfast just directly across the inn, so they headed over to that place. They also saw the dead reimu from last night still on the sidewalk, just in front of the entrance, and ants were crawling all over its remains, eating its sweet filling. "Poor thing…" Olimar commented before everyone entered the café.

The café didn't allow animals, so the three Pokemon and Parry were forced to wait outside. The others told them that they would get them something to eat.

* * *

Luigi took a good look at the baked reimu on his plate, making sure that it was really dead. After seeing that it was indeed dead, he ate it. "It actually tastes great!" he commented.

"No kidding," Falco said while munching on another baked yukkuri.

"And yesterday, we were lamenting about how people are torturing yukkuris," Link said. "Now we're actually… happily eating them…"

"There's a difference between killing something for fun and killing it for food-related purposes," Snake said. "If you see a guy shooting down cows just to kill time, you'd feel bad for the cows and angry about that guy, but if the cows were killed in order to make steak, you wouldn't feel bad."

"I wuz surprised when da waitress asked if we want-a to eat-a a live yukkuri or a dead-a one," Mario said. "I surely don't-a want to eat-a a live one…"

"Why would anyone want to eat a live one anyway…?" Diddy asked.

"The same reason some people eat live octopi?" Snake said. "And speaking of which, someone's eating a live yukkuri over there." The Smashers turned around to see a guy picking up a screaming reimu with a fork and biting away a chunk of her. The reimu was still screaming and flapping its remaining hair braid, but the person wasn't bothered by the screaming at all and continued to chew on the part he bit off. After swallowing, he proceeded to put the entire yukkuri, still screaming, into his mouth.

The Smashers were lost at words and didn't know what to say after seeing that.

* * *

The Smashers left the café after they were finished with breakfast, and they noticed that the dead yukkuri was gone. According to Pikachu, it was removed by a street cleaner. They didn't give much thought about it and walked down the sidewalk, talking with each other what they should do next.

A lone guy was walking in front of them, and they noticed a marisa slowly moving in their direction, very close to the edge of the sidewalk. When that guy was next to the marisa, he gave her a swift kick to send her rolling onto the street, where a car immediately zoomed by and flattened her. The Smashers stopped in their tracks with shocked expressions upon seeing this, and the guy simply snickered while continuing on his way.

Angered by this, Link walked up to the guy and grabbed him by the shoulder, and the latter turned around. "You! Why did you do that just now!" Link angrily asked him. "Have you no conscience at all? Taking the life of a yukkuri just like that and laughing it off!"

The guy made a face that showed both surprise and anger, and then he said, "What's with you? Haven't you heard the rules? You're not supposed to care about people abusing or killing yukkuris! Besides, it's just a yukkuri! Who on earth cares about trash like them? They're born to be abused and picked on!" The person then pushed Link's hand away before continuing on his way.

The other Smashers walked up to Link. "What did he… just say…?" he said.

"Rules about people not supposed to interfere with abusing and killing of yukkuris?" Snake replied. "Yep, we heard that."

"Why would-a anyone make-a such-a rule?" Mario asked. "That makes-a no sense!"

"Right! Why on earth would they legalize animal abuse? And people must not save the abused animals too!" Olimar asked. "This is plain wrong and inhuman!"

"He even called yukkuris trash born to be abused and picked on…" Pikachu said. "How can he say such a cruel thing…?"

"Geez! That attitude makes me want to punch him in the face!" Falco angrily said.

"Calm down," Fox told him. "We should avoid causing violence as much as possible. I agree that it's plain wrong for there to be a rule like this. This makes me question what kind of ruler they have around here. Anyway, we need to make things clear first before jumping to conclusions and thinking of what to do about it."

* * *

After that, the Smashers went to the park to and hanged out around some benches. There, they saw yukkuris, both pets and strays, playing happily with humans. "Despite all the abusing we saw, it seems that there are still people who love yukkuris," Luigi said.

"Right, it's good to know that not everyone mistreats them!" Olimar happily said. "Let's hope the abusers are the minority…"

Mario turned to Fox and asked, "So you seriously think that-a da killing and abusing of yukkuris eez da reason da Destructa will be resurrected in theez world?"

"That's only me theory," Fox replied. "Remember that it doesn't matter what the reason for the killing is, as long as someone is killed, it is considered a factor for resurrecting the Destructor. Since killing yukkuris appears to be very common here, I believe that it may have to do with this."

"Then what do we do about it?" Pikachu asked. "If the president set up the decree about abusers having the right to abuse yukkuris, then there's nothing we can do!"

Fox looked around before looking at Pikachu and saying to him, "It's best that you keep silent as much as possible… We're going to grab unnecessary attentions if you talk…"

"Sorry…"

"So about what you said… Yeah, it's going to be something tough to deal with if it's the government behind this…"

"We'll just arrange for a meeting with the president," Falco suggested. "We'll get him to get rid of this decree and ban yukkuri abuse as a whole."

"I'm not sure if we can go and meet the president so easily… Still, my theory regarding the yukkuris getting killed being the reason that the Destructor is getting resurrected is unconfirmed. Who knows? Maybe the mass massacring Master Hand talked about is referring to something else, so let's try to look into things more first before jumping to conclusions."

"It's still a good idea to think of what to do, assuming that the yukkuris are the reason the Destructor is getting resurrected soon here," Snake said. "You should always be prepared for everything, even for things you're not sure about."

"In the very least, I think we can try to help out any yukkuris in need. Even if they do not concern our mission, I simply cannot stand them being mistreated for the sake of one's entertainment!" Olimar said. "Sure, telling abusers to stop may get us into trouble, but we can try to help the yukkuri afterwards, assuming they survived… Keeping them from dying will help in delaying the Destructor's resurrection, right?"

"Well, the yukkuris don't die if we save them… I guess that helps… Maybe our actions may convince more people to do the same too!" Fox said.

"Then we should get lots of orange juice. They are vital in keeping yukkuris healthy. I say we head over to the nearest convenient store now and buy them!"

"As long as we don't use a week's worth money…" Luigi said, looking into his wallet.

There was a convenient just across the street outside of the park, so they headed over to it and bought some orange juice. After they were done shopping, they gathered outside the shop. "Okay, let's split up and travel in small groups," Fox said. "Just look for any yukkuris that look like they may need helping and help them. And yes, I'm aware that you guys want to stop the abusers and even teach them a lesson, but it's best that we do not cause any trouble here, so get a hold of yourselves if you see abusing going on, okay?"

"I'll just drag those abusers somewhere where no one can see us and teach them a lesson. I'll also threaten them in such a way that they won't tell a single soul about what happened!" Falco said.

"Please, no… Anyway, we'll meet back at the inn after an hour or so to discuss more about this."

With that, the Smashers split into groups and went their own ways, each group taking with them a bag of orange juice and some edibles. The Mario Bros. and Link went together, the Star Fox character went as a group, Olimar and Snake went together with the Pokemon, and Donkey and Diddy went together with Parry.

* * *

Link, Mario, and Luigi were walking along the sidewalk. They suddenly heard someone telling them to take it easy, and then they looked down to see a reimu looking up at them with two koreimus. "Do you have any sweet-sweets?" the mother reimu asked.

"Sweet-sweets! Sweet-sweets!" the two koreimus happily said over and over.

Luigi looked at the other two Smashers and asked, "Do I give them something to eat?"

"Sure, why not?" Link replied. "We're supposed to go around and see if there are any yukkuris that need help. If they're hungry, then give them something to eat."

"Okay, let's see what we have here," Luigi said as he reached into the plastic bag he was holding, and then he took out a piece of bread wrapped in plastic. He took it out of its wrapping and then gave it to the yukkuris. "Here you go! It isn't actually sweet, but I hope you like it anyway!"

The mother reimu let the koreimus eat the bread first, and the former said to the Luigi, "Thank you very much, kind mister! Mister can take it very easy!"

"You're welcome!" the plumber cheerfully replied. "Take it easy yourself too!"

"Take it easy!"

"Chake it eajy!" the two koreimus said, and then they continued eating the bread.

While the three Smashers were watching the koreimus eat the bread, a person passed by them and said under his breath, "Tsk! Yukkuri lovers!"

Link heard him and then looked at him continue on his way. "And what's wrong with that?" the former quietly said to himself in an angry tone.

"You don't have to mind him," said a woman's voice all of a sudden. The Smashers turned to the other side and saw a bespectacled woman dressed in a blue business outfit. She had short, green hair that reached just slightly above the shoulders. "It's nice to see people showing love and care to yukkuris! Normally, they would've received ill treatment simply for asking for something to eat."

"Yeah, and that's-a plain wrong," Mario said. "We intend-a to show everyone that-a we should-a take-a good-a care of yukkuris."

"That's very nice!" the woman said with a smile. "Unfortunately, your actions will likely be unable to change anything around here… The law made it so that abusers have the freedom to abuse yukkuris and not be interfered. Likewise, people also have the freedom to show love to yukkuris and not be interfered. While your actions may receive jeers from abusers, rest assure that they cannot do anything to you because of this."

"Yeah, we know that," Link said. "It shocked us to know that this city would have this kind of law… I really want to see what kind of person the ruler of this place is…"

"This decree was made three years ago and came as a shock to everyone, but to abusers, this was probably the best thing ever for them. Actually, things were worse before this decree was made. People would get into fights with each other regarding yukkuri treatment…"

"Really?" Luigi asked. "Wow… Yukkuris must be such a serious business around here…"

"I take that you're new around here, right? My name is Shikimi Yamasaki! It's nice to know you!" the woman said while reaching out her arm to shake hands with them.

Mario shook hands with her while introducing himself, and then the other two did the same.

"Since you're new around here, I'm more than happy to tell you anything you need to know!" Shikimi told them. "Feel free to ask me anything!"

"Okey-dokey!" Mario said.

* * *

Diddy heard a malicious laugh coming from within an alleyway, so he tugged Donkey's arm and motioned for him to come over with him to see what it was. When they got in front of the alleyway, they saw a person kicking a marisa, who was protecting a reimu behind it. The person didn't exert too much force in his kick, so the marisa wasn't fatally wounded or killed by it, but it still hurt a lot.

"Hahaha! I'd like to see you how long you can protect your mate!" the abuser said while laughing. He started to kick harder and harder, and the marisa was starting to cough out its fillings. Despite its cry for him to stop, the abuser just laughed and continued to kick her.

Suddenly, he felt someone grabbing him, pulling him back, and turning him around so that he was facing an angry muscular man. "I DON'T CARE IF IT'S AGAINST THE LAW TO TELL PEOPLE TO STOP ABUSING YUKKURIS OR NOT!" the enraged gorilla shouted at the top of his voice. "I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU ABUSERS TO BULLY THESE YUKKURIS ANYMORE!"

He shouted so loud into the abuser's face that when he let go of him, the abuser was shaking from head to toe while nodding, and then he walked away in an awkward manner, wobbling all along the way. "Well, you sure went ahead and ignored Fox's order," Parry said, watching the guy leave from atop a trash can lid, "but I'm sure am glad to see him getting served!"

Donkey and Diddy turned to the marisa and the reimu, and the latter asked them, "Are you all right? Take it easy!"

"Take… Take it easy…" the marisa weakly said. "Thank you for saving marisa and reimu, kind misters…!"

"Thank you very much, kind misters!" the reimu happily said.

"Oh yeah, we've brought some orange juice," Diddy said. He took the plastic bag from DK and got out a bottle of orange juice and two straws. After opening the bottle and inserting the straws into it, the two primates held the yukkuris in their hands so that they could drink from it more easily. After finishing the entire bottle, both the yukkuris returned to perfect condition.

"Take it easy!" they loudly and cheerfully said.

They placed the yukkuris back onto the ground and waved good-bye at them. When they left the alleyway, a person approached them and asked, "Did the two of you just saved a yukkuri from abuse?"

"Do I have a rickety on a booze?" Donkey asked.

"Sorry, he has hearing issues…" Diddy said to the person. "Anyway, we did save two yukkuris from abuse just now. And yes, we are aware that we are not supposed to interfere with abusing, because that's a really dumb rule that the government came up with! I don't care whether you want to criticize us or arrest us, but we'll continue to do what we did just now and make sure that no yukkuris receive anymore ill treatments!"

"You've misunderstood me!" the person said to him. "I'm actually surprised and glad to know that there are people like you out here! I'm glad that you rescued those yukkuris and scared that abuser away!"

"You are?"

"Yes! I'm a yukkuri lover, and it saddens me to know that the president made a decree telling people not to interfere with abusing. I'm part of a group that is standing up against this unreasonable and unethical decree, and since you two do not favor abuse, would you like to join us?"

Donkey lowered his ear to Diddy so that the latter could whisper to him what the person just said. "Sounds like a good idea!" the gorilla said with a nod. "Nice to know that there are people here who are against yukkuri abuse!"

"Then let's tell the others about this fast!" Diddy suggested, and then he told that person the same thing.

* * *

The Smashers followed the person all the way out of the city and to the woods. They eventually came to a large clearing where there was a plain-looking building. Next to the building was a ranch-like area with several yukkuris. There was a shaded area built there, obviously to let yukkuris hide from rain.

"Is this a yukkuri ranch?" Olimar asked the person.

"No, this is a place where abandoned yukkuris and survivors of abuses are gathered," he replied. "We go out and look for yukkuris that are mistreated and bring them back here to help them recover and also to give them a warm home."

"Nice of you to do something like-a theez!" Mario commented.

The person led them into the building, where they saw a few other people either playing with or healing yukkuris. Quite a few of the yukkuris showed signs of being abused. Some had scars and wounds that weren't fully healed yet, some had ragged accessories, some had a bit of their hair torn away, and one even wore an eye patch.

The person led them to some sofas and chairs for them to sit on. "Please make yourselves comfortable!" the person said to them. "I'll bring you some treats and also call the master of this place."

The Smashers sat down and looked around the place. "Nice to know that there are people here willing to put effort into protecting these things!" Fox said, sounding glad.

"Yeah, though I wouldn't be surprised if they are the minority," Falco said. "I mean, they are against the president's rule regarding abuse, so that would put them on bad sides with the government and the abusers. Combine this with the fact that they live out in the woods… Guess they're really hated around here…"

"Perhaps we'll learn more if we ask their master," Snake said.

The same person eventually returned with a woman who brought them a tray of drinks. "Sorry to keep you waiting!" the person said while the woman placed the cups onto the table. "Please meet our master!" And he presented to them a rather intimidating-looking man with an eye-patch. He was dressed in a dark green military uniform and also wore a red beret.

Fox stood up and said to him, "It's very nice to meet you!"

The master reached out his arm to shake hands with him. With a smile on his face, he said, "It's nice to meet you too! I'm happy to know that there are people who are willing to protect yukkuris from abusers out there, despite the law not allowing such a thing! My name is Raul McLane."

"I'm Fox McCloud!" Then Fox thought of something in his head. "Maybe I could've come up with another name… Hope my name isn't considered too strange for the people here…"

Raul didn't give his name a thought, however. Each of the Smashers then introduced themselves. After they were done doing that, Olimar asked Raul, "So… Mr. Raul, we're actually new around here. Foreigners, you can say… Because of this, we are confused as to why the president would establish a decree that bans people from saving yukkuris from being abused. I think that such a decree is cruel and wrong! Animals have the right to live! Unreasonable violence towards them is unethical!"

"You have a moral way of thinking, Mr. Olimar," Raul said to him. "It's a sad thing indeed… The president suddenly came up with this decree three years ago. Yukkuri abuse has been around for a very long time already. Before the decree was established, people who are against yukkuri abuse would rise against abusers to stop them, but the abusers refused to let other people judge or stop them. Because of this, violent conflicts sometime occurred. Eventually, the president set up this decree, telling people that yukkuri lovers and yukkuri abusers should not interfere with each other. If you see an abuser abusing a yukkuri, you are not allowed to stop him or anything. Likewise, abusers are not allowed to abuse yukkuris that are under the protection of someone, nor can they have objections against ethical treatments towards them."

"Eet's-a just like-a what Shikimi said-a…" Mario commented.

"Who?" Link asked.

"She's a woman we met-a while we went-a around helping yukkuris," the plumber replied. "She applauded uz for helping yukkuris and also told-a uz about-a da decree."

"Why couldn't the president just ban yukkuri abuse as a whole?" Luigi asked. "Doing this isn't any better for the yukkuris! In fact, it's worse! At least before this decree was made, the yukkuris could get rescued from the hands of abusers!"

"I agree… Things were better off before this decree was made…" Raul said with a sigh. "The president's reasoning for this was that he didn't want there to be anymore violence between yukkuri lovers and abusers. Apparently, he sees the life of humans more important than yukkuris… To me, the lives of yukkuris are just as important, so they deserve equal treatment as well. I objected to this decree, and because I fought against it, I was treated as an outlaw… I withdrew into the rural area and set up this place for people who are against this decree. Our dream is to establish a world where yukkuris will forever be free of abuse."

"That's a great dream!" Parry said, and then he quickly shut his mouth with his wings, as he remembered that he shouldn't talk too fluently.

"You have a smart parrot!" Raul commented.

"Yeah! I taught him how to talk!" boasted Falco, who was obviously lying.

"By the way, about the Yukkuri Fun Fair that is coming tomorrow…" Olimar asked Raul. "What exactly is that about? We read on the news and saw on the television that it's a fun fair where the entertainments all involve… yukkuri abuse…"

"It is exactly as you said," Raul replied. "Abusers came up with the idea of holding a fun fair once a year dedicated to that, and you won't believe how inhumane these fun fairs are. Over thousands of yukkuris get killed in these fun fairs, all for the sake of entertaining abusers and whoever finds these kinds of sick entertainment fun… This time, I will no longer tolerate such an inhumane fun fair from being held, so my group and I plan to speak out our minds to everyone. On the day of the fun fair, we will go there and show them that we are serious about putting an end to yukkuri abuse once and for all!"

"How do you plan to do that?" Snake asked.

"You will see for yourself on that day. If you want to, you can also go to that fun fair and see for yourself just how inhumane things are."

"I'm not sure if I can stomach the things I see there…" Luigi said.

"Oh, and one thing," Snake said. "Your way of dressing implies that you're from an army."

"That's true," Raul replied, "but ever since I spoke out my discontent regarding the decree, I was thrown out of the army, and I was a high-ranking commander too… However, I have no regrets on such a thing happening. If the army throws me out for that reason, that means they do not have what it takes to fight against this decree, or they simply agree to and enjoy yukkuri abusing! I'd very much leave them than to be with people who do not agree with me!"

"Soldiers are supposed to fight for the good of the country, so I guess they're being faithful to their duties by accepting this decree," Link said. "Still, I don't think it's right to blindly follow unethical decrees."

"I like you people! You have the mind of someone who loves yukkuris! Yukkuris have been my friends since I was small, so they are like family members to me. It really saddens me to see that people are obsessed with seeing them suffer… Since we all think alike, are you willing to join my organization, People for the Ethical Treatment of Yukkuris, or PETY for short?"

"We thank you very much for the invitation!" Fox said. "But please give us a bit of time to consider. Your invitation came a bit too… suddenly… We're not from around here after all, so we'll have to get used to things around here first before taking that into consideration."

"Right-a," Mario said with a nod.

"I won't force you to join right away, so please take your time thinking over things. I'm not forcing you to join us either. However, after you've seen for yourself the horrors of the Yukkuri Fun Fair, you'll likely want to consider joining us to fight against the abusers and the decree."

"We'll see about that," Snake said. "We'll probably even handle things our own way."

"Anyway, do you want to take a look around this place? I'll show you around. You can even stay here for the night if you have nowhere else to stay at!"

"Thank you for your offer!" Olimar said. "However, we have already registered at an inn, so we'll just go back there for the night."

The Smashers got up, and Raul showed them around the place, introducing to them some of the more important members of this place. He also told them how some of the yukkuris here were tortured and left to die, but they were found by their members and then brought back here. "This one here lost an eye," Raul said, showing them a reimu that had a white eye patch. "It was also badly injured and leaking lots of its fillings. We managed to nurse it back to health, but nothing could be done about its eye."

"At least it can still see," Luigi said.

"True, it's lucky to be alive, but it also told me that its mate and children were all killed by the person who took its eye."

"How terrible…" Diddy commented.

"Sometimes, we also find yukkuris that are beyond hope of saving, so in order to end their suffering, we had no choice but to euthanize them, as much as it hurts to do so… One yukkuri, for example, had its eyes, hair, and accessories removed, and then all its openings were sealed using water and flour. The abuser basically transformed it into a ball of flour that squirmed around aimlessly. We found it, but since there was no way of restoring it back to normal…"

"I guess I know what happened after that…" Snake said.

"Such cruelty…" Fox commented.

* * *

Soon after that, the Smashers were outside the building and within the ranch, playing with the yukkuris. "Come here!" Donkey Kong said as he picked up an alice in his hand and rubbed her head. "Awww! You're so cute!"

"Take it easy! City sect!" it said.

Diddy held a stick over a momiji that was jumping up and down happily. "I throw this stick, and you go and fetch it, okay?" Diddy said to it, and then he threw the stick. The momiji ran after the stick, but what came back was Jigglypuff, carrying the stick in her hand, an action that was reflected onto her Pomeranian appearance given by her Identity Bracelet, and the momiji was following her and barking at her for the stick. "Hey! That wasn't for you!"

Olimar, Mario, and Luigi were crouched in front of a reimu and a satori, and the former had a stalk in front of its head. "So this is stalk pregnancy!" Olimar said with great interest as he observed the four koyukkuris hanging from underneath the stalk. Two of them were reimu-types, and the other two were satori-types.

"How long does it take for them to be born?" Luigi asked.

"From what I've read, it takes only about a week."

"That's very fast!"

"Indeed; yukkuris are very fast at reproducing."

"I guess that's-a how they managed to avoid-a extinction, despite-a getting killed often…" Mario commented.

"You have a point… Let's not talk about that now, can we?" Olimar told him. "Anyway, from the look of it, I think the koyukkuris should be born today. Their appearances imply such a case."

"Hey look! One of them is opening its eyes!" Luigi said, pointing to the front-most koreimu.

"Quick! Put your hands underneath it! Koyukkuris are likely to get hurt when they fall down from their stalks! The ground may be soft enough to cushion their landing, but it's for the best."

"Okay," Luigi said as he placed his hand underneath the koreimu, which fell down a few seconds later.

"Chake it eajy!" it said in a loud, high-pitched voice. The other koyukkuris also opened their eyes, and then they fell down one by one. Luckily, the ground was soft enough for them to fall onto without getting hurt at all.

"Reimu and satori's little ones are born easy!" the mother reimu happily said.

"Satori is now a father!" the satori said, and then it thanked Luigi. "Thank you very much for helping little ones, kind mister!"

The newborn koyukkuris gathered around their father and mother and rubbed them cheek to cheek. "Awww! They're so cute-a!" Mario commented.

"I have to agree!" Olimar said. "I read that satori-type yukkuris are among the rarer kinds of yukkuris, so I'm glad that I'm looking at a rare yukkuri right now!"

"Can't believe that someone would want to abuse rare yukkuris too…" Luigi said. "They should be protected."

"Abusers tend to prefer abusing the more common types, such as reimus, marisas, alices, and patchoulis," a person taking care of the yukkuris said from behind them. "However, there are still cases where abusers abuse rarer kinds."

"Mamamia… They have no respect-a for life, do they?" Mario commented.

"Tell me about it…" the person said before continuing his work, which involved feeding yukkuris and doing some other stuff for them. "We found that satori in an alley, and it told us that nobody liked it, so we brought it back here. Satori-type yukkuris have the ability to read minds, which some yukkuris and people don't like."

"Mind reading? Wow! To think that yukkuris would be able to do something like that!" Olimar commented with excitement.

"Makes Psychic-type Pokemon not as special, don't you think?" Luigi said.

Not too far away, Link was looking at a marisa that was much larger than a human. "Whoa! What a big yukkuri!" he commented.

"It's like flying in the sky!" said a marisa that was sitting on the dosuyukkuri's hat's brim.

"Yay! Flying in the sky!" Pichu, who was sitting next to it, happily said.

Link approached the dosuyukkuri and touched its side. "People actually bully yukkuris this big as well?"

Another one of the people taking care of the yukkuris said to him, "That's true. Despite its size, dosuyukkuris aren't very powerful. More powerful than a normal-size yukkuri, obviously, but they're still no match for humans. When we saw this dosumarisa in the woods, it was badly beaten up with sticks stabbed all over it. It told us that several abusers killed its friends, which were all normal-sized. It fought its best to protect them, but ultimately failed."

"Geez… Those abusers… It really pisses me off!" Then Link looked at the dosumarisa. "Don't worry; you have lots of new friends now! These humans are nice people, so you can trust them!"

"These mister humans are very nice! Marisa like them!" the giant yukkuri happily said. "Marisa's new friends can all take it easy with them! Mister, please take it easy too!"

"Take it easy!" the marisa on its hat and Pichu simultaneously said. Luckily, the person taking care of the yukkuri didn't hear the latter.

"Take it easy yourself too!" Link said to the marisa.

Raul watched from behind the fence at the Smashers interacting with the yukkuris, and then he said to the person next to him, the same one who led the Smashers here, "So… is everyone ready for tomorrow?"

"We're all ready, Captain Raul," he replied.

"Good! Tomorrow, we will do our best to make a change. We will show them that we are serious about this!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I apologize for the fact that this chapter doesn't really seem to be all that special. It also seems rushed, because I don't have that many ideas and is too lazy to come up with more… Don't want to make you all wait too long too… You can consider this chapter to be a "calm before the storm" chapter.

Raul is an OC whom I modeled after Rolento from the Final Fight and Street Fighter series.


	4. Uneasy Entertainment

**SBS Time!  
Slickr85: **How many types of yukkuris are there? Because I think I lost count.  
**Game2002: **The same amount as there are Touhou characters, but since yukkuris are completely fan-made, one can turn any character into yukkuris, thus making there tons of yukkuri types.

Made a big mistake since the first chapter… Olimar's spacesuit isn't supposed to have pockets or any way for things to get underneath it, so the Pikmin shouldn't be able to hide underneath it… And Donkey Kong doesn't have pockets, even though the Identity Bracelet makes it look like he has. I went back and changed the parts involving that in chapter one and two because of this.

This chapter is where things start to get controversial…

**Chapter 4  
Uneasy Entertainment**

* * *

Mario, Luigi, Olimar, Donkey Kong, and Diddy were back in their rooms in the same inn. The inn was having a special discount for people who plan to stay there for an entire week, so they had problem affording that long of a stay.

Mario and Luigi were sitting on chairs in front of the TV, but only the latter was watching the television, while the other was deep in thought. Luigi noticed his older brother looking not so relaxed, so he asked him, "What's wrong, Mario?"

"I've been thinking about-a what-a Shikimi told-a uz," the older plumber replied. "What-a she told-a uz about-a da president…"

"You mean the president establishing this abuse-related decree?"

"Eetz da one she said-a afterwards… Rememba that-a she said-a when da president established theez decree, he sounded strange?"

"Yeah… She said that the president had always been neutral towards the treatments of yukkuris, and when he announced this decree to the public, he sounded as if he actually didn't want to establish it… It seemed as if he was forced to come up with it or something like that…"

"Yeah… Something tells me that-a things and are not-a as simple as we think-a eet eez… Perhaps-a there eez someone behind da president establishing theez decree?"

"Or maybe the president is indeed concerned about violence among people due to the treatment of yukkuris that he established this decree…" After that, Luigi continued watching TV, but Mario continued to think about what Shikimi told them this morning.

* * *

The next morning, Link came out of his room with a big yawn. The cleaner, who was a different person from yesterday, came down the hallway, pushing along her trolley filled with cleaning equipments, and spotted him, so she said, "Good morning!"

"Good morning," Link replied.

"You going to a costume party?" she asked him.

Link was confused about what she said at first, and then he looked at his attire and realized that he forgot to put on his Identity Bracelet. Hoping that she wouldn't notice his pointy ears, he nervously said, "Um… Going to the Yukkuri Fun Fair, so I thought I might as well wear something… exotic…"

"I see. Enjoy!" the cleaner said with a smile before continuing down the hallway, and then Link quickly returned into the room and closed the door.

* * *

After finishing breakfast in the same cafe, the Smashers headed over to the fun fair by taxi. They had to split into two groups and take one taxi each.

Snake, Mario, Olimar, Luigi, Pikachu, and Pichu were seated together in one taxi, and while on the road, the taxi driver asked them, "So are you looking forward to play all those yukkuri-related entertainments?"

Not very sure how to answer the driver, the group became a bit nervous, and then Snake replied, "At least only interested in watching."

"That fun fair attracts tons of people everyday. I'm not into yukkuri abuse myself, but I don't mind going there just to watch what sort of stuff they have there."

"The same can be said for us."

"How can people enjoy stuff like this…?" Olimar said in his mind.

"See this traffic jam we're currently in?" the driver asked. "Most of them are probably heading for the fun fair, hence the reason for this jam. I'm not kidding when I said it attracts lots of people. The street tends to be crowded on days like this."

"Eet must-a be something very fun for them!" Mario commented.

"For abusers, yeah… As long as they get to see or get to participate in anything related to making yukkuris suffer for their own entertainment, it's all worth it. I do question why they think yukkuri abuse is so entertaining, though. Ever since the president established that decree three years ago, abuse-related activities increased quite a bit. Before that, abuses aren't actually as common, at least out in the public… People who are against them would get into fights with them… This city, you can say, was a more dangerous place back then. Things have become more peaceful for the citizens now, but worse for the yukkuris…"

"Well, the welfare of the people is more important after all… I think…" Olimar said.

"The yukkuris probably wished that it was better three years ago, where they at least had people standing up to them. I'm neutral towards yukkuri abuse, so I don't really have much to comment on this. As long as I get to live a normal life and continue my work, I'm cool with anything."

Snake looked back and said, "I wonder if the other taxi is still following us. Oh, there it is." Sure enough, he could see familiar faces inside the taxi right behind theirs.

* * *

Luckily, their destination wasn't very far from their inn, and despite the traffic jam, it only took them about thirty minutes to get there, though according to the driver, they could've gotten there about fifteens minutes earlier if there was no traffic jam. After both groups paid their fares, they approached the entrance of the fun fair, which consisted of a large arch with the stylized words "_Welcome to Yukkuri Fun Fair!_" written on it.

"Well, here we are," Fox said.

"So what are we gonna do?" Falco asked. "Bust out the yukkuris in secret and silence anyone who tries to stop us? Without killing them, of course."

"Much as I would like to do that, we shouldn't cause any unnecessary troubles, so let's just be like normal tourists and take a look at the place. I don't think any of us here wants to participate in any of the entertainments here, though… It's only going to add fuel to fire…"

"I don't mind playing the games as long as it doesn't involve yukkuris dying," Pichu said.

"All right, let's go," Fox said, and then they all headed into the fair grounds. The place was quite crowded, and some parts were so crowded that they had a hard time trying to get through. There were various stands, some for games and some selling food, and the people gathered in front of each of them ranged from many to few.

In pretty much every stand they looked at, they could see yukkuris, some being prepared as food and some getting "played" by people. Luigi, Donkey, and Diddy went over to a food stand that was selling grilled yukkuris skewered on sticks, and they were disturbed to see that the yukkuris, despite being badly burned on the electric grill, still showed signs of life, such as movements of their mouths and making soft cries. "Want to buy one?" the seller asked them.

"No thanks... Not hungry at the moment," Luigi said, and then the trio quickly returned to the others.

"Ugh… How can people eat something that still has eyes and is still alive…?" Diddy asked in disgust.

"Not any worse than that…" Falco said, looking at a passing-by kid who had a reimu skewered on a stick, and he dipped the screaming yukkuri into a plastic bowl filled with caramel before eating her.

Olimar looked to the side and saw a game stand with the sign that wrote "_Baby Yu Cannon_" on top of it. Curious, he went over to see what it was, and he saw rows of people with yukkuris, mostly reimu-types, held in front of them. The stand owner injected some sort of yellow liquid into each of the yukkuris using a syringe to make them instantly give birth.

"Baby don't be born easy!" one of the reimus cried, but it couldn't stop its baby from coming out of its mamumamu at all.

"Born eajy!" said the koreimu as it slowly came out of its mother's womb, and then the person behind the reimu squeezed it hard from both sides to make the baby go flying into a bull's eye, hitting right in the center.

SPLAT!

"Yay! Top score!" the person exclaimed with his arms raised into the air, and the reimu was crying and lamenting about the loss of its short-lived child.

"Oh my god… This is plain horrible…" Olimar said with wide open eyes of horror.

"This is plain… inhuman…" Link commented. Even the blue Pikmin peeking out from his collar looked horrified.

"Ugh… How can they possibly enjoy this kind of sick game…?" Falco said in disgust as he watched the people shooting more koyukkuris out of their mothers' wombs.

"This makes that one look less inhuman in comparison…" Fox said, looking at another game that involved chasing yukkuris and hammering them with large hammers.

They continued on their way and saw several more yukkuri abuse games, such as shooting yukkuris that were somehow attached onto moving targets with arrows, throwing yukkuris as far as one could to score points, baseball bat swinging with yukkuris substituting as baseballs, a game of bowling with yukkuris replacing the bowling pins, and more.

They eventually saw a large group of people gathered around something, and curious as to what it was, they went forward and push their way through the crowd until they were able to see what the attraction was. It was a large metal plate that had fire at the bottom of it, and there were railings to keep onlookers from trespassing. "What's this all about?" Luigi wondered.

Directly across the Smashers, a man with thick, orange eyebrows and the same-colored hair that was shaped like a pile of fire was standing on top of a platform that reached up to the waist of an average adult. With a megaphone in front of his mouth, he said, "Place your bets! Bet which yukkuri will be the last one standing!" Immediately, the crowd started throwing shouts into the air while paying money to place bets.

"Marisa number 2!"

"Youmu number 3!"

"Reimu number 4!"

"Reimu number 1!"

"Meiling number 10!"

Eventually, the owner told everyone that it was time to start the competition. Someone then handed him a box containing several yukkuris that had number tags attached to them, and then he dumped them all onto the burning metal plate. The yukkuris screamed in agony while jumping all over the place.

"HWOOOOOOOOT!"

"HWOOOOOOOTCH!"

"CAN'T TAKE IT EASY LIKE THIS!"

"HOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!"

The yukkuris could not escape the metal plate, because its sides were raised like walls and were too high for them to jump over. When the yukkuris were no longer able to take the heat, they died one by one, and those who lost the bet either groaned in disappointment or cursed angrily. Eventually, it was down to a single meiling. "And the winner goes to meiling number 10!" the owner announced, and those who betted on that yukkuri exclaimed with joy. Eventually, the burns were too much for the meiling to handle, and it was also too tired from the constant jumping. It eventually fell on the surface of the metal plate and joined the other yukkuris in getting burned to death.

The Smashers could not believe what they just saw, and they were the only people in the crowd that weren't exciting or anything. "I don't-a believe eet…" Mario quietly said while slowly shaking his head.

"How… How could they…?" Pichu, who was standing on Link's shoulder, said. He had tears in the corners of his eyes.

The owner told everyone to make another round of bet, but the Smashers were no longer able to tolerate what they saw, so they quickly left. "I'm going to the restroom…" Falco said in a frustrated voice as he walked away from the others.

"Do you know where it is?" Fox asked him, and the bird pointed to a sign not too far away pointing to where it was. "Oh."

* * *

After he was finished with his business, Falco left the public bathroom and began to find his way back to the others. On his way, he heard the sound of gunfire, so he turned to the side noticed a large crowd gathered in front of what appeared to be a shooting range. He went to it, telling himself that it must be a game where yukkuris are getting shot, and sure enough, he was right. He watched with a look of anger on his face at the people using rifles to shoot down yukkuris that were placed on top of moving poles powered by machines. Because the yukkuris' feet were burned, they were unable to move, so they could do nothing but cry and tell the people to stop, only to get blasted in the faces.

"This… settles… it…!" Falco muttered to himself, and then he went over to the owner, a fat balding guy dressed like a cowboy, but without a hat. "Hey, I want to play this game. Got any spare guns?"

"Why of course!" the owner said to him. Falco paid him, and then he handed him a rifle.

The bird inspected the rifle closely and then said to him, "Do these things use real bullets?"

"Nah, we figured that real bullets are probably too dangerous to be used, since people may get hurt," the owner replied. "Instead, they contain plastic bullets, and while they can't kill or cause fatal wounds to people, they are strong enough to pierce holes in yukkuris, or at least send them flying."

"That's just perfect! I suddenly thought of something even more fun than shooting yukkuris!" And he pointed the rifle at him. "I shoot you, and you have to run from me!"

Startled, the owner took a step back, and passersby turned to look at the bird. "Hey! You're kidding me, right?" the owner asked. "You're supposed to shoot the yukkuris!"

"Where's the fun in shooting defenseless creatures that can't run when I can shoot a target that can run and even defend himself?"

"You're out of your mind! You…" But before the owner could finish speaking, Falco fired bullets at his stomach. "Ow!" He kept on firing, so the owner quickly ran, and the bird gave chase while firing constantly.

* * *

Meanwhile, the rest of the Smashers were seated on some benches, waiting for their friend to return. "I wonder what's taking him so long," Link wondered.

Just then, they heard the sound of shouting, and the voice sounded very familiar to them. They stood up and saw a group of people gathered around the source of the voice. "That's Falco's voice!" Fox pointed out.

"What-a happened to him?" Mario wondered.

The Smashers quickly rushed over to the crowd and pushed their way through it a bit, just enough to see two policemen trying to restrain the anthropomorphic bird, who was constantly fighting back. "You accursed abusers and your constant abusing! I have it with your cruel and inhumane treatments toward yukkuris!" he angrily ranted. "You think it's fun torturing defenseless creatures and taking their lives simply for the sake of entertaining yourselves? On top of that, nobody is supposed to stand up for them? How about you people pick on someone your own size instead!"

"You have no right to judge us!" a person shouted at him. "It's the rule around here! We have the right to torture and kill yukkuris! Besides, it's fun!"

"Yeah! It's fun!" shouted another person.

"I like hurting yukkuris!" shouted a kid.

Falco glared at the kid and said, "What do you know? You start them off young, eh? I'd totally love to see what kind of people your parents are to let you get away with hurting innocent creatures!"

"You got a problem with the way I teach my son?" the kid's father, a large, fat man with a bushy beard angrily said to him. His wife, a woman with a mass of short, curly hair, was standing next to him, looking offended after hearing what Falco said.

"You people bring child upbringing shame!" Falco angrily said to them. "Who on earth would allow their children to get away with abusing animals!"

"Keep quiet and come with us!" one of the policemen said to him. The angry crowd continued to shout at Falco, while the policemen tried to drag him away, but the bird was angrily fighting back and trying to free himself.

"Oh no! What do we do!" Parry said in shock. "We have to save him!"

"But at a scene like this, we'll only make the situation worse!" Fox said. Suddenly, Donkey Kong rushed forward. "Donkey! Don't!"

"Hands off my friend!" Donkey angrily shouted as he pulled the two policemen away and hurled them into the crowd. After that, he turned around and gave everyone a piece of his mind. "You are all sick people! Torturing and killing defenseless creatures for your own entertainment! Have you all no heart or shame? I simply can't tolerate your actions anymore! If anyone has a problem with me, bring it!"

"Yeah! Bring it!" Falco said as he got into fighting stance.

Fox facepalmed and said, "They're making things worse…"

"Might as well make the worst of it once things have really gone down the drain," Snake said.

"What are we going to do!" Luigi asked. "We can't just let the both of them start a fight!"

The crowd started to become wilder and wilder, and the Smashers started to feel themselves being shoved around. As the angry crowd closed in on Donkey and Falco to attack them, the sound of gunfire was suddenly heard, not to mention screaming. All eyes turned to the back to see a group of people armed with machine guns approaching them. "Raul!" Olimar said in surprise when he saw who it was that was leading the group.

"Go and rescue the yukkuris," Raul said to his men. "Immediately tend to those that are badly injured too."

"Yes, captain!" one of his men said, and then some of them went to the stands, causing the owners to run away in fear.

Raul then turned to the Smashers and the crowd around them. "It seems that there are finally people brave enough to stand up to this disgusting fun fair after all!" he said. "It makes me glad to know this!"

"I know who you are!" a person shouted. "You're the leader of PETY! That group of terrorists who have been causing trouble to us for abusing yukkuris!"

"Terrorists!" Snake said in surprise when he heard that term.

"Would I be causing trouble if none of you abuse yukkuris?" Raul asked. "I voiced my discontent regarding yukkuri abuse several times peacefully, and you people just had to mock me and report to the authorities about this! The fact that PETY has become like this is thanks to people like you!" He then pointed his machine gun at them. "You people better scram and let us continue with our work of getting the yukkuris out of here, or else I will not show any mercy to any of you, just like how you showed none to the yukkuris!"

The crowd, filled with fear, quickly left, but one person angrily stepped forward and shouted, "You have no right to tell us to stop abusing yukkuris! It's the law here! We have the right to abuse them in whatever way we want to! You have even lesser right to ruin this fun…" Before he could finish his sentence, Raul loaded bullets into his body. Many people saw this and screamed while running around like crazy.

"Raul!" Fox shouted at the leader of PETY.

"Ah, my friends!" Raul said to them with arms wide open. "I have heard what two of your friends said. They truly are remarkable to be able to stand up to the inhumane acts here!"

"What are you doing!" Fox angrily said to him. "How can you kill that man! This is going too far! I thought you wanted to speak your mind out to everyone here, not use violence!"

"I am doing what I said already. I'm speaking my mind out to everyone here!"

"Using guns?" Falco asked. "Listen, I may hate what the people here are doing, but that doesn't mean I'm going to pull out a real gun and start shooting them down because of this!"

"Right-a! There eez no justice in what-a you are doing!" Mario said.

"Justice? Let me tell you what has no justice!" Raul said, starting to raise his temper. "All those merciless abuse towards innocent yukkuris! Even if the yukkuris did something wrong, they are punished in the most terrible ways and not shown any mercy! Tell me: where is the justice in that? Those abusers showed no mercy to the yukkuris, so I have no reason to show them mercy!"

"Even if their ways are not right," Fox said, "death is not what they deserve! The fact that you kill people simply because they kill yukkuris makes you no different from those abusers!"

Raul pointed his gun at him and angrily said, "You dare compare me those lowlife yukkuri haters! They do not value innocent life! They mistreat life and laugh it away! Am I someone who does that? Do I go around killing the innocent people and laugh away like them? My way of doing things are justified, unlike theirs!"

"What you're doing is not justice!" Link angrily snapped back. "Just because the abusers are wrong does not mean you should walk down the same path as them! Like Fox said, you are no different from the abusers if you kill them!"

"Silence! It's either with me or against me! I was hoping that you people would agree with my ways and help me fight for yukkuri rights, but now it seems clear that we do not think alike!"

"We could say the same thing!" Falco angrily said.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of sirens. "That sounds like the police cars!" Olimar said.

One of Raul's men came up to him and said, "We managed to rescue most of the yukkuris. There are still more, but with the police coming, I'm afraid we don't have much time to stay around."

"Then retreat for now," Raul replied. "However, if the police catch up, feel free to open fire!"

"Oh no, you don't!" Fox said to him. "We're not letting you do anymore unnecessary killings! If it's rescuing yukkuris that you want, we'll rescue the remaining ones ourselves!"

"Yeah! We don't need you to make things worse!" Falco said.

Raul lowered his gun and began to turn around and leave. "I can shoot you all down right now for not agreeing with me, but I'll let you go this time, considering that you are showing willingness to rescue the yukkuris. I have my way of doing things, and you better not question them!" Then he quickly left with his men, most of which who are pushing with them carts containing yukkuris.

As the sound of the siren grew louder, Fox said to his friends, "Quick! Grab as many yukkuris as you can from the nearby stands and get out of here before it's too late!" They all agreed, so they rushed out to the nearest stands and looked for surviving yukkuris, which they put into whatever containers they could find and then made a run for it before the cops arrived.

* * *

A bit of time had passed, and what happened at the Yukkuri Fun Fair was broadcasted on television. "Not too long after those two declared a challenge against the crowd," the news reporter said, "PETY arrived at the scene and terrorized everyone. They took most of the yukkuris away when they left. The total number of casualties is only one."

"Tsk! PETY! Always causing trouble!" said a really angry person who was watching the broadcast. The man then turned off the TV and stood up, pacing around the office room he was in after that. He had dark brown hair that was neatly combed and wore a business suit. "Yukkuri lovers! People who defend yukkuris! Yukkuris! Trashes! All of them!"

He paced in circles in the center of the room over and over, and the more he thought about yukkuris, people who love yukkuris, and what he saw on the news, his temper started to rose. He started to breathe more and more heavily as his temper rose even higher. Eventually, he let out a frustrated growl while heading for his desk, which was placed in front of a row of large windows. He pressed a red button in front of the desk to cause a part of the surface next to the former to open. A small platform came up, carrying with it a koreimu.

"Chake it eajy!" the koyukkuri cheerfully said upon seeing the person, but he immediately picked up a pencil and stabbed it in the eye. "YUWAAAAAAAAAH! IT HURTS! WHY DID YOU DO THAT!"

"Because I'm angry!" the person loudly replied while continuing to stab the yukkuri over and over. Eventually, the yukkuri was dead and full of holes, and the pencil was broken too. The platform the koyukkuri was on tilted forward to make it slide down into a wastebasket placed right in front of the desk. The person was still burning with anger, however, so he pressed the button again to make a komarisa come out.

"Chake it eajy!" it said, only to be smashed to death by his fist right afterwards. "YUBEH!"

"GRAAAAAAAAAAH!" the person cried at the top of his voice as he slid his hands across the table to shove the remains of the komarisa off his desk, and then he pounded his table very hard over and over. He hit the button again, and this time, a kopatchouli came out. Before it was able to finish saying its first word, he squashed it with his fist.

SPLAT!

"YUKKURIS! TRASH! TRASH! TRAAAAAAAAAASH!" the person shouted as he raised his arms to the side and with his head facing the ceiling. "ALL THOSE WHO LOVE YUKKURIS ARE TRASHES TOO! TRASH! TRASH! TRAAAAAAAAAAASH! ALL OF THEM!"

Still enraged, the person turned and left his room, stomping the floor hard with each step. Before he left the room, he took with him one of the golf clubs from a golf bag placed next to the door. As he stomped down the hallway, the employees all looked at him. "The chairman must be heading there again…" one of them said.

"You mean to the room where he vents off his anger?" another one asked.

"Where else do you think he goes to vent off his anger? The yukkuris in his office aren't enough to satisfy him if he is in a really bad mood."

The person eventually came to a metal door and opened it to go inside. He shut the door behind himself and said out loud, "Let them out at once!"

Immediately, parts of the walls opened up, and various yukkuris slid down from the openings. When the yukkuris saw the enraged man standing in front of them, fear immediately struck them, so they quickly huddled as close as possible to each other, thinking that it would protect them. Some of them puffed up with angry faces, hoping that it would intimidate him. The man lightly tapped the head of the golf club against his palm as he closed in on the yukkuris.

From outside the room, the employees could hear shouts of anger and high-pitched cries, the latter obviously coming from the yukkuris, which were being brutally slaughtered.

"YUBEEEEEEEEEEH!"

"YUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

"WANNA TAKE IT EASY MOOOOOOOOOOOOORE!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"YUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Humans getting harmed or dying because of different views toward yukkuris is a very risky and controversial subject to touch upon in the yukkuri fandom, but like I said before, this chapter is where things start to get controversial, and I'm willing to take that risk and accept any criticisms regarding this, so please feel free to come at me if you have anything you really have or want to say. This chapter originally had more casualties, but I changed it, mind you…

Anyway, I hope you still look forward to the rest of the story.

God bless you all!


	5. Identities Easily Revealed

**SBS Time!  
Dead Turtle: **Did you get the idea of all those acts of abuse against yukkuris from yourself, or did you get them from the fandom?

**Game2002: **I'd say both, but the fandom plays a bigger inspiration.

Sorry for the wait… Wanted to update yesterday, but lots of stuff happened, so I ended up updating today, though I finished typing the chapter by then already.

By the way, please be reminded that not every chapter will have heavy focus on yukkuris. In fact, there may even be chapters that have very little mention of yukkuris.

**Chapter 5  
Identities Easily Revealed**

* * *

On the same night the chaos at the Yukkuri Fun Fair occurred, the Smashers were back in the inn. Mario came out from bath while wiping his face with a towel. "Phew, what-a day!"

"Yeah, what a day indeed," Luigi, who was watching TV, said. "Good thing we managed to make it to the rural area of the city and set free the yukkuris without anyone seeing us."

"Those yukkuris are very nice too! They thanked us when we let them go!" Olimar, who was watching TV with him, added.

Luigi reached his hand to a bag of chips and grabbed several pieces at once, but as he was bringing them to his mouth, one of them fell to the floor. He was going to pick it up when suddenly a reimu rushed over to it, picked it up with its mouth, and then scurried away as fast as it could. Luigi and Olimar watched as it disappeared underneath a drawer.

Diddy went over to the drawer and crouched down to look underneath it, but because light couldn't reach in there, all he could see were the silhouettes of round things moving. Olimar came over to where he was and used a flashlight to shine into it, and he was immediately greeted with the shocked faces of a reimu and three koreimus looking at him while eating the chips. They immediately scurried out from underneath the drawer and then went behind the cabinet.

"Wow! Those are some really small yukkuris!" Diddy commented. "They're fast too!"

"I read about them," Olimar said. "Those are house yukkuris. They are smaller than usual yukkuris. It seems that they are equivalent to cockroaches."

"Cockroaches?" Luigi asked as he peeked into the back of the cabinet, but he wasn't able to see the yukkuris. "Considering how people usually kill cockroaches on sight, I guess there are times when killing yukkuris are justifiable… Still, I don't know if I want to kill something that looks so… 'human' and can even talk…"

"Speaking of which, there's even a yukkuri equivalent of mosquitoes," Olimar told him. "They're called remilias. They come in large and small variants, the large ones being harmless, while the smaller ones suck the blood out of people."

Diddy suddenly heard the sound of buzzing next to his ear. Out of his instinct, he slapped it and then looked at his hand. He was surprised with what he saw. "Whoa! Look at this!

The other two came over to look at his hand, and Luigi said, "Eeew… What is this…?"

"I have every reason to believe it's what I said just now…" Olimar said. "You just killed a remilia…"

* * *

Time went by, and it was already the morning of the next day, after the Smashers had finished breakfast. While they were walking down the street, Fox said to Falco and Donkey Kong, "Here's hoping that nobody recognize the both of you…"

"Relax," Falco said. "The news didn't have any pictures of us at all, other than the coverage, of course. As long as we don't run into anyone who saw us at the fair yesterday, there's nothing to worry about. Plus, why is there a reason to feel ashamed or be afraid of getting seen? We spoke out our minds regarding moral ethics. What's wrong with that?"

"That may work if the people here actually have the same kind of moral ethics as most of those back in our world…" Link said.

Down further ahead, a guy with a shaved head dressed in casual clothing was walking past a TV store when suddenly the TVs behind the window suddenly showed Raul. "Listen, citizens!" he said. "This is Raul McLane, leader of People for the Ethical Treatments of Yukkuris speaking!"

Everyone was who nearby immediately stopped to look at the broadcasting. Meanwhile, all the other TVs in the city showed Raul as well. At the TV station, the workers were surprised at this sudden broadcasting.

"Hey! What happened? Why is the leader of PETY on the screen?"

"I don't know, sir!"

"He's on every single channel!"

"Find out what this is all about at once!"

"What happened yesterday was just a warning," Raul said to everyone through the broadcasting. "We from PETY will no longer tolerate the yukkuri abuse that is going on! Just because the president established such a decree does not mean we're going to sit by and let such unethical ways keep on going! We are going to continue to fight for the rights of yukkuris, and all those who try to stop us or disagree with our ways of doings things are our enemies! We will not hesitate to strike down such people! You showed no mercy to the yukkuris, so we have no reason to show any mercy to you!

Do not think that this broadcasting is just an empty threat! From now on, we will actively show up in places where we think too much abuse is going on and gun down anyone who participates in those activities! This is the kind of treatment you abusers deserve!"

As Raul continued to deliver his speech, the aforementioned person with a shaved head was looking at the TVs behind the window with an angry face, and then a reimu with what appeared to be a silver badge on its ribbon approached him and looked at the broadcasting too. When Raul was finally finished giving his speech, all the TVs in the city turned back to normal. The person angrily muttered to himself stuff related to PETY and yukkuris.

The reimu turned to him and said, "Did you hear that mister easy? Yukkuri abuse is bad! Mister will make you not take it easy if you abuse yukkuris, so take it easy with reimu, okay?"

The person looked down and glared at the reimu, which had a smug look on its face. Because he was annoyed by Raul's speech, what the reimu said and its face made his temper rise even higher. Gritting his teeth and growling angrily, he kicked the reimu from the side to send it flying into the part of the wall underneath the TV store's window.

KICK!

"Why did you do that!" the reimu cried. "That mister on TV said not to hurt reimu easy!"

The person picked up the reimu, gripping her in such a way that made her feel pain, and tore the part of her ribbon that had the badge. "I don't need a lowlife trash like you lecturing me!" he angrily said to her. He pressed her against the window and pulled back his fist to punch her, not caring that he would smear the glass with red bean paste or possibly break through it.

"Hey you! Stop at once!" shouted someone. The person and the reimu turned to the side and saw the Smashers, and Falco was stomping towards him with an angry face. "Let go of that yukkuri at once!" He immediately grabbed that person's arm, the one that was pressing the reimu against the window, to make him let go of the yukkuri. Olimar quickly came over to take the reimu and then returned to the others.

"Let go of me!" the person angrily replied. "You're not allowed to stop me, and even if you have the right, I don't care! Hearing that trash of a speech and that yukkuri trash talking to me made me burn with rage! I'm going to kill it to give myself a better day!"

"How about getting yourself a punching bag or some squishy toy instead?" Falco said to him. "You think it's fun venting out your anger on a defenseless creature? It's people like you that someone like Raul exists!"

The both of them began to attack each other, and being the more killed fighter, Falco easily overpowered him and had him up against the window while punching him over and over. Fox and Mario quickly rushed over to stop them, but in his anger, Falco shoved the both of them back. Enraged, the guy reached forth his hands and caught Falco by the neck, and then the both of them moved in circles while pushing against each other.

Everyone around the place was watching, and when guards of nearby stores saw this, they blew their whistles and ran in their direction to stop them. However, the both of them continued to push each other, slowly moving in the direction of the street while doing so.

When they were on the street, a car suddenly came rushing down it. People were shocked when the car got closer and closer to them, but nobody was able to save them in time, and those two weren't able to get away in time as well. The driver quickly stepped on the brake, but he stopped too late, so his car still hit the both of them and sent them flying backwards.

The Smashers and the yukkuri on Olimar's hands had their mouths wide open in shock, and so was the same for everyone around the place. Despite getting hit, Falco sat back up as if he wasn't hit hard. He only growled in pain while rubbing his body, but that person was seemingly unconscious on his back.

One of the guards who witnessed this immediately called for the ambulance, while everyone else gathered around those two to try to help them.

* * *

The courtroom…

It was the last place the Smashers expected themselves to be in. Other than Falco, who was seated in front of the defendant's table, the Smashers were among those sitting in the visitor area. The place was anything but quiet, though it wasn't noisy either. Almost everyone was talking about what was going to happen and the incident that happened in the morning.

"What have we gotten ourselves into…?" Fox said, not believing their current situation.

"A game of objection?" Pichu replied.

"To think that of all the people that Falco got into trouble with, it had to be the younger brother of a big shot…" Snake said. "This is really troublesome…"

"Yeah, the younger brother of the chairman of a company that makes yukkuri abuse gadgets…" Luigi added. "I hope the chairman is a nice guy and is willing to go easy on Falco…"

"I'm not-a sure eef things will really be like-a that-a…" Mario said in a nervous tone.

Just then, a green-haired woman came up next to them and said, "It's nice to see you again!"

The Smashers turned to the woman, who Link and Mario immediately recognized. "Shikimi!" they both said.

"I heard about what happened," Shikimi told them. "Don't worry; I'm here to help defend your friend!"

"Defend Falco?" Fox asked.

"Yes. I never told you this before, but I'm actually a lawyer."

"You are?" Mario asked.

"Just leave your friend to me! I'll be sure to get him out of trouble, or at least soften the possible consequences!" Shikimi assured them with a smile, which made most of the Smashers feel relaxed, before heading over to the defendant's table and took her seat next to Falco.

"Good to see that there is someone supporting us!" Olimar said.

"Here's hoping that this case will do something about the decree regarding yukkuri abuse too!" Luigi said.

"I'm hoping for the best too, but somehow, I feel like things won't be so good…" Snake said.

"Look on the bright side, will ya?" Parry, who was perched on his shoulder, whispered to him.

Some time passed, and more and more people filled up the courtroom. Eventually, the judge himself showed up at his bench, and a bodied shikieiki was following him.

Falco looked at the yukkuri and then turned to look at Shikimi, who was looking up ahead, and noticed that the yukkuri's appearance resembled hers. They both had the same hair color and hairstyle, not to mention having the same eye color. The only differences are that the yukkuri wore a hat and had no eyeglasses. However, he didn't give much thought into this afterwards and shrugged it off as a mere coincidence. After all, it's not out of the ordinary to find animals with faces that resemble actual people.

"The case will now begin!" the judge said while hitting his bench with a mallet.

"The case will now begin!" the shikieki repeated.

The courtroom immediately turned quiet, and then the judge told the court reporter to tell everyone what the case was. The court reporter stood up and said out loud, "This morning at ten in the morning, Arthur, younger brother of the chairman of Yu-Abuse Inc., was watching the broadcasting from Raul McLane, the leader of PETY, from outside the TV store at Route 23. While he was watching it, a reimu came and saw the broadcasting too, and after that, it told Arthur that he should stop abusing yukkuris and also not abuse her."

The court reporter continued with his case report and eventually brought up that Arthur was badly fractured from the car crash, but he was still alive and conscious at the hospital. Falco, on the other hand, was pretty much uninjured from the car crash, other than suffering minor injuries that could easily be shrugged off.

This was no surprise for Falco himself and his fellow Smashers, because he had been through several violent conflicts in the past and went through worse things, so getting hit by a car was considered a minor case for him.

After the case reporter had finished and took his seat, the judge said, "Under normal circumstances, such a case would have no need to be settled in the courtroom, due the law of abusers having the freedom to abuse yukkuris, and nobody is to interfere with them. However, because both sides got into a fight that ended up with the both of them being injured, albeit one is mostly unharmed, we shall debate on this and see whose fault it is that the accident happened. I will allow Arnold Nonymus, chairman of Yu-Abuse Inc. and older brother of Arthur Nonymus, to speak first."

A man with neatly-combed dark brown hair wearing a business suit stood up from behind the plaintiff's table and said in an angry voice, "That guy has no right to stop my brother from hurting that trash called a yukkuri! In fact, it's the yukkuri's fault for causing all this! That garbage trash talked to my brother, thinking that it is something special after hearing what Raul said. Trash! That's what yukkuris are! Proud of themselves, even though they are the worst of the worst that have absolutely no right to live in the same world as all other kinds of living things and even breathe the same air! Yukkuris are the reason for everything wrong in life! They are trashes that deserve to be tortured and killed in the most terrible ways ever!"

The man named Arnold continued to rant about how much he hate yukkuris and about how much he hate people who love yukkuris as well. "We've got a serious nutcase here…" Snake commented.

"I really feel bad that we got into trouble with him now…" Luigi said.

"Enough! You may take your seat now!" the judge said while hitting his bench.

"Enough! Be quiet!" the shikieki said right after that.

Arnold sat down, still burning with rage, and the judge said, "So you say that the yukkuri was the one who started this? The yukkuri has been brought to this courtroom as well, but before we let it speak, does the offended, Falco Lombardi, have anything to say in his defense?"

Falco stood up and said, "I have no right to stop yukkuri abuse, eh? In fact, nobody can do it? I'm sorry if I'm not playing with the rules here or if I offended anyone, but this kind of decree is all kinds of trash! Who on earth would establish such a decree? Get your president here! I'm going to give him a piece of my mind for coming up with such a decree that only madmen would come up with!"

Falco ranted and ranted, and the Smashers, especially Fox, felt embarrassed. "He better not make things worse…" Fox commented.

"Silence!" the judge said while hitting his bench, and then the shikieiki repeated the same thing.

Shikimi pulled Falco's shirt and got him to sit down, and the latter was burning with rage. The judge then ordered for the reimu that started this all to be brought forward, and then a guard came to the front of the courtroom with a platter containing the yukkuri, still with its ribbon still torn, and placed it on the defendant's table.

"Speak up, yukkuri," the judge said to the reimu, "do you have anything to say in your defense? After all, you said something that offended Arthur."

The reimu, looking guilty, dared not to look up, but with its eyes looking down, said, "Reimu is sorry…"

"You think a simple sorry is going to do you any good!" Arnold suddenly said out loud while standing back up. "The only way you can make up for your atrocious crimes is to die! Even dying won't do any good! All your family should die! Your entire kind should die! Before you die, you must be tortured over and over in order to pay for the heinous acts you've committed to humanity! A lowly trash like you must suffer a fate worse than death!"

Arnold's ranting became so loud that the judge had to tell him to keep quiet, but even so, he refused to do so. Shikimi eventually stood up and said out loud, "I have something I have to say!" Immediately, he stopped, and everyone turned to her. "It's true that the offender Falco Lombardi has no right to stop Arthur from abusing the yukkuri, but Arthur himself has no right to abuse that yukkuri in the first place too, because…" She reached into her pocket and took out a silver badge, which was still attached to the piece of the ribbon that was torn off.

The reimu saw it and bounced up and down over and over. "It's reimu's silver badge! Please give back to reimu easy! Please!"

Everyone in the courtroom was surprised when they saw this, and Shikimi continued her statement. "This silver badge was found at the site of the incident. Judging by the appearance of the torn part of the reimu's ribbon and the piece of the ribbon the badge is attached to, one can conclude that it belongs to the yukkuri, and this also proves that the yukkur is, in fact, a pet. Therefore, by attacking a pet and even removing its badge, Arthur Nonymus has committed the violation of mistreating someone's property."

"What makes you so sure that the badge belongs to that yukkuri?" Arnold asked her. "It may be a random badge lying on the ground that fell off a yukkuri, or that yukkuri stole it from a pet and put it onto its own ribbon!"

"That cannot be the case," Shikimi told him, "because there is no way the yukkuri can attach the torn part of the ribbon onto its own. Furthermore, if you inspect this badge carefully, you'll see that this is the kind that cannot be removed by yukkuris. There used to be a problem where certain species of stray yukkuris would use their hair as hands to remove the badges of pet yukkuris and then attach them to themselves in order to get passed off as pets. This issue was resolved by the invention of badges designed in a way that they cannot remove it with their hair. Therefore, this badge cannot belong to another yukkuri but this one, and it was removed when Arthur attacked it. I have tracked down and contacted its owner, who should be on her way here now."

Right at this moment, the door opened, and a young woman was escorted in by a guard. The reimu turned around to see her, and then it happily jumped up and down. "Miss! Miss! Reimu is here!"

"Reina!" the woman said as she quickly rushed over to the defendant's table to hug her yukkuri. "I'm so glad you're all right! I was shocked when I heard that you got attacked!"

"I miss you a lot, miss!" the reimu said to her.

Falco turned to the judge and said, "Now you see for yourself that it was that guy's fault in the first place! He abused a yukkuri owned by someone. If I didn't stop him, someone's pet would've been killed! You should be glad that I saved a pet! Now who's in the wrong here?"

"The owner is in the wrong here!" Arnold said, standing back up. "It's her fault for not teaching her accursed yukkuri any manners and making it trash talk to other people!" Then he went on to rant how much he hates people who love yukkuri and how horrible they are.

"I really want to punch the lights out of him!" Donkey said. Apparently, Arnold spoke loud enough for him to hear clearly what he said. Not extremely clearly, but at least he got the point.

"I'm with you," Snake said with a nod.

The judge was going to hit his bench when suddenly Falco stood up and shouted at Arnold, "Don't you think you have enough? The whole courtroom is now all about your ranting! Who do you think you are? You think just because you're a big shot of some company that shouldn't exist you can trash talk all you want? You're the trash around here!"

"People who defend trashes like yukkuris have no right to talk to me like that!" Arnold shouted back. "Yukkuris are trash! It's fact! Everyone who loves them is trash as well! It's fact! Fact! Fact! FACT!"

"OH YEAH! I SAY THAT IT'S A FACT THAT YOU'RE TRASH AS WELL! IT'S A FACT! FACT! FACT! FACT! FACT!"

Both sides yelled at each other at the top of their voices, and no matter how loud the judge told them to keep quiet and sit down, they wouldn't listen. They eventually moved in each other's direction to engage in violence, but the Smashers immediately ran to Falco to hold him back, while Arnold's lawyer, who never got a chance to speak, tried to hold him back. "Falco! Calm-a down!" Mario said to him. "You're making things worse!"

"GET YOUR PRESIDENT HERE!" Falco shouted. "I HAVE A LOT I WANT TO SAY TO HIM REGARDING THIS! EVEN IF I DIDN'T WANT TO GIVE HIM A PIECE OF MY MIND, I'M STILL DOING THIS AS PART OF OUR MISSION TO SAVE YOUR WORLD! YOU PEOPLE ARE GOING TO DESTROY YOURSELVES IF YOU KEEP UP YOUR SICK ABUSING! YOUR WORLD IS IN DANGER! DO YOU KNOW THAT!"

Seeing that the chaos wasn't stopping, a guard took out his gun and fired at the ceiling, and the loud sound caused everyone to become silent in an instant and look at him. The judge hammered his bench hard and loudly said, "DO YOU HAVE QUITE ENOUGH YET! SIT DOWN AT ONCE, OR ELSE I'LL HAVE THE BOTH OF YOU THROWN INTO PRISON FOR CAUSING DISTURBANCE!"

Everyone immediately sat back down in silence, and then the judge, who was breathing heavily due to the shouting, took a deep breath and then said, "Okay… Let's… do this… again… This time… nobody is to speak… unless I give the permission to do so… and if I tell you to stop… you must stop…" The judge then turned to look at Falco. "I heard you say just now… that you are on a mission… to save our world… because our world is in… danger… from abusing?"

"Yeah, pretty much what you said!" Falco replied. "Your yukkuri abusing is causing an ancient evil to be resurrected." Hearing this, people started talking to each other about the absurdity of what he said. "Yeah, go ahead and laugh at me! You'll regret it in about three months, and if you don't believe me, just watch!" He instantly took off his Identity Bracelet to reveal his true form.

The Smashers were surprised at his action, and everyone else was shocked at the sight of a human changing into an anthropomorphic bird, except for Shikimi, who didn't look surprised or anything at all.

"Surprised, eh?" Falco said while spinning the bracelet in his finger. "My friends and I are inhabitants from another dimension, and we are here on a mission to save your world from destruction, so you should be thanking us! If you don't believe me, then let my friends prove things to you!" Then he turned to look at the other Smashers.

"Ugh… He just had to go ahead and say all those, didn't he…?" said Fox, facepalming.

"At least we now have progress in our mission," Snake said. "Now that he mentioned us and revealed his true form, we might as well just let everyone know the truth."

All eyes were on the Smashers as they stood up, and Link said, "He's telling the truth… Not every one of us here looks like the way we currently are now…" He then took off his Identity Bracelet to reveal his true form, and the other Smashers who had them took them off too. Their appearances were met with gasps.

"What… What is this all about…!" the bewildered judge asked. "I demand an explanation for this!"

"Please do not fret, judge," Fox said to him. "It's just like our friend said: we come from another dimension, and our appearances are something normal in that world. The reason we came here is because an ancient evil is coming to life soon in somewhere that has lots of killings going on, and we found out that this world is where it will be resurrected. We are very sure that the killings of the yukkuris are the reason that the ancient evil is coming back to life here, so we are trying to find a way to stop such a thing from happening."

"Right! I can't believe that you people would allow yukkuri abuse to be legal!" Olimar said. "Since the president set this degree, please allow us to speak to him and try to get him to stop this! If this keeps on going, the ancient evil will come back to life in this world and wipe out everyone! We only have about three months' time, so we must hurry!"

The people started talking among themselves about what they heard, all of them wondering whether or not they were telling the truth. "Ha! You expect me to believe all those nonsense?" Arnold said to them. "What is to say that you people are actually here on an invasion attempt? You're spies sent by the superiors of your world to gather information on our world so that you can take over it!"

"You're one tough nut to deal with, you know that?" Falco said to him.

Shikimi turned to the judge and said, "Please allow those people the chance to speak to the president. Assuming that what they say is true, our world can very well be saved if yukkuri abuse is to put to an end."

The judge was going to speak, but Arnold interrupted him. "And why are you standing up for those people and believing what they say so easily?"

Shikimi looked at him and said, "I'm simply taking the safest route."

"Oh really? I'm not surprise if you're actually one of them! You probably just want to find a way to end yukkuri abuse too! In fact, it makes little sense for you to suddenly want to act as that bird freak's lawyer! They haven't been here long enough for you to become so familiar and friendly with them, and why would you want to help aliens from another dimension as well?"

"If we are aliens, then it shows that aliens have more moral ethics than someone like you!" Falco said to him.

Falco and Arnold were about to get into a fight again when the judge suddenly said, "Enough! We currently do not have enough proof on whether or not these… outsiders are telling the truth, but since they insist on meeting the president, let them speak to him, then."

The people started talking about this even more, and while they were doing so, the judge ordered a guard to contact the government about this, and the latter nodded. Fox sighed with relief and said, "Seems like we're able to convince them into letting us meet the president…"

"Let's-a hope-a everything eez smooth flowing from here," Mario said.

* * *

Inside his office, the president, a middle-aged man with neatly-trimmed gray hair, was seated behind his desk, waiting for his guests to arrive. He did not believe what he was told at all, about beings from another dimension coming to this world, claiming that they were here to save it from destruction. When the person who reported this to him kept on insisting that it was true, he decided to see for himself how true it was.

Eventually, the door open, and the Smashers were led in by his secretary. Needless to say, he was surprised at the kind of guests he received. "I don't believe it!"

"We're sorry for surprising you, Mr. President," Fox said to him, "but it's true, we really did come from another dimension. I'm sure you heard the reports already."

"I honestly didn't believe what I heard at all… You're not people dressed up as animals, are you?"

Diddy pulled his cheek and said, "Nope. It's the real thing. Feel free to touch it."

"I can assure you that I'm a real parrot!" Parry said.

The president looked at each of the Smashers in bewilderment, and then he calmed himself down and said, "Okay… Okay… It seems that you people are indeed real. So you come from another dimension to save our world, is that so?"

"It is exactly as you said, Mr. President," Fox told him.

"Okay… So what's your story? Why exactly does our world need saving? Is something bad happening?"

Fox and some of the Smashers then explained to him everything, all the way from the Destructor to the abusing of yukkuris. After they were finished with their story, the president, with a somewhat skeptical look, asked, "Are you serious?"

"We're very serious about this, Mr. President," Fox told him. "Your world is truly in danger of getting destroyed by the Destructor, assuming that he does get resurrected here, and according to our superior, it is going to happen here in about three months if the yukkuri abuse doesn't stop."

"Please, Mr. President!" Olimar said. "Please call a halt to this yukkuri abuse at once! Not only is it for the good of this world and its inhabitants, but it's also for the good of the yukkuris! Life should be respected, so it's not right for the yukkuris to be abused and killed for the sake of entertainment! There is no morality to this!"

"Why did you even establish theez decree in da first place?" Mario asked. "Someone told-a uz that-a eet eez becuz you are concerned about da wellbeing of da citizens, becuz people get-a into fight-a often due to da difference in views of yukkuri treat-a-ment. Eez that-a true?"

The president nodded. "It's like you said. Three years ago, yukkuri abusers would attack people who like yukkuri and even the other way round. Because of this, this decree was established in order to keep both sides from getting into violent conflicts."

"Couldn't you have just declared yukkuri abuse illegal as a whole?" Luigi asked.

"I have no right to take away the freedom of the people by banning yukkuri abuse. The people have the right to choose what they want to do, so I did the best thing possible."

"Legalizing animal cruelty is the best thing possible?" Pichu said as he jumped onto the president's desk. "Listen! Back in our world, animal cruelty is looked down upon! Admittedly, you do see people picking on ants and some other kind of bugs… But that's not the point right now… Anyway, it's all right that yukkuris get hurt and killed, but not humans? Animals, no matter what species they are, deserve just as much right as humans!" Mario quickly took him off the desk, because he was showing disrespect to the president by standing on it.

"You're not from this world, so I'm afraid that you won't be able to understand the way things work here," the president replied. "Yukkuri abuse has apparently been a part of our world's history, so to force people to stop doing something that they have been doing for a long time already is something they find hard to accept.

"Listen, just because it's something that your forefathers have been doing doesn't mean it should continue!" Link said. "As time moves on, old traditions get left behind. Yukkuri abuse should be left in the past! People are more civilized and have more ethic morals nowadays, so a civilized person should know that yukkuri abuse is wrong!"

"It doesn't matter whether or not you think yukkuri abuse is ethical anymore, Mr. President," Fox said. "What matters now is that if this keeps on going, your world will be in danger! The Destructor is not someone that can be stopped using plain military power. Only certain people from our world have the power to destroy him, so if anything, we want him to be resurrected in our world and not yours."

"Please, Mr. President!" Olimar pleaded. "For the sake of everyone here and also the yukkuris, put an end to yukkuri abuse at once! The fate of this world depends on you now!"

The president leaned back and thought over what they said, and after several seconds of silence and rubbing his forehead, he leaned forward and said, "Okay, I'll think over this…"

"We're glad that you're willing to think over this, Mr. President!" Fox said.

"However, I will need to hold a meeting with some other leaders regarding this. Decrees are not something that I can easily establish myself," the president said. "I will arrange for a meeting as soon as possible, and will you people please attend the meeting too? Having people who brought up this in the first place speaking will surely make things more persuasive."

"We'll gladly attend and speak during the meeting, Mr. President!"

"Okay, then let me arrange a trip to the meeting hall for you. Please come with me." The president then stood up and led them out of the room.

"Finally! Some progress!" Falco said as he followed the others out.

"Let's hope the result of the meeting is something good!" Olimar said.

The president led the Smashers outside of the building and toward a truck parked not too far away in front of the door. "Please board that truck," the president said to them. "It'll take you to the place I told you earlier."

"Thank you very much, Mr. President!" Fox said.

As they were heading there, Snake wondered to himself, "Why do I have the feeling that something's not right…? I hope it's just me thinking too much…"

When they were close to the truck, a soldier standing next to it said, "You will need to hand over all your weapons or anything dangerous you have with you. This is for safety measures."

"Don't worry; we won't use them to harm anyone or do anything bad," Link told him.

"I'm sorry, but you still need to hand them over no matter what. Please comply with us."

"There's nothing wrong about this," Fox said. "Just hand them over." So Fox, Falco, Link, and Snake handed over their weapons, which were then stored into the front of the truck.

After the Smashers entered the back of the truck, which was empty, the door was shut behind them and then locked. "Boy, they sure know how to treat guests!" Diddy sarcastically said. "There aren't even chairs!"

"Wait a minute… This isn't right!" Falco said as he headed over to the door and looked out the barred window. "Something tells me that we're being treated as prisoners instead! You people better give an explanation for this!"

"Relax, this is for safety measures," the president told them. "Since you're not from this world, chances are likely that some people will see you as threats and attack you, hence the reason I put you into this well-protected truck."

Snake looked out the window as well and said, "Am I correct in saying that you don't believe us and is actually sending us somewhere to be eliminated or something?"

"What! Really?" Pikachu gasped.

"I'm having that kind of feeling as well!" Falco said. "Spit out the truth now! You're up to something, aren't you?"

The president started to sweat nervously, and then he finally said, "It seems that I cannot hide things from you…"

"I knew it!" Falco angrily said, and then he shook the bars. "Let us out at once! You're really going to get it once I'm out!"

Fox came up to the window and asked, "Why are you doing this to us, Mr. President? Do you not trust us?"

"Sorry, but I simply cannot allow outsiders to come into our world and order us around," the president replied. "You may actually be plotting an invasion or something like that, so safety measures must be taken in order to assure the safety of our citizens. Don't worry; you will be treated well at the place you're going to."

"You wouldn't happen to be taking us to the Area 51 of your world, right? What's next? Experiment on us and then lock us up with aliens and such?" Falco said. "Let us out at once! Give us back our weapons as well!"

The truck started moving, and the Smashers were pounding against the inside of the truck to force their way out, but its walls were too tough to be broken through. The president sighed with relief that he managed to trick them onto the truck, but all of sudden, an explosion happened to the front of the truck and propelled it backwards.

BANG!

"What in the world!" he said in shock.

The truck landed upside-down, and then jeeps and trucks suddenly came rushing into the place. Raul was seen riding in one of the jeeps. When the vehicles stopped, his men came down from them, armed with guns. "I hope I'm not disturbing you with this visit, Mr. President," Raul said as he approached the president.

"Raul McLane!" the president said. "What are you doing here!"

"Remember what happened yesterday and the broadcasting today? I'm here to show the world that I am without doubt serious. Don't worry; I have no intentions to kill you, so long as you do not have any ill intentions."

"What do you want!"

"I just figured that by terrorizing the president's office, I can show everyone how serious PETY is about fighting for the rights of yukkuris. Of course, I'm also here to get you to change the decree so that yukkuri abuse is banned. I will not go too rough on you if you are willing to cooperate."

The guards of the president's office and the president's bodyguard came and pointed their guns at Raul and his men, and they pointed back. While both sides were confronting each other, a red Pikmin slipped through the bars of the truck door's window and climbed to the lock. It generated heat from its body and eventually caused the lock to melt, and once it was soft enough, Donkey Kong punched the door open, and the Smashers came out.

"Great! Now PETY just had to come and make things worse!" Falco growled.

"Quick! Get our weapons! We'll help the president afterwards to prove that we are on his side!" Fox suggested.

"Why should we? He wants us imprisoned! There is no reason to side with him anymore!"

"There's simply a misunderstanding! We must try to get in good terms with him if we want to stop yukkuri abuse!"

The truck driver had passed out from the explosion blasting the truck, so the Smashers didn't have any problems trying to get back their weapons from the front. While they were doing this, the president saw them and said out loud, "Those outsiders have escaped! Stop them!"

Confused, Raul and his men turned around to see the Smashers, and then the president's men began firing. Some of Raul's men were shot, so Raul and the remaining ones quickly ran for cover and fired back.

"Negotiation is off!" Snake said as the Smashers quickly ran for cover behind the truck. "We might as well get out of here first! With PETY here, I don't think we can have a peaceful conversation of any kind!"

"How do we get out of here?" Luigi asked, and Snake pointed to one of PETY's trucks. They quickly headed over to one of the trucks, and Snake managed to pull out the driver before the latter drove away or fought back. After that, Snake took the wheel, and Falco sat next to him. The others quickly got into the back of the truck, and then the vehicle u-turned and drove away.

"They're getting away with our truck! Stop them!" Raul shouted, and then his men fired at the getaway vehicle.

"But captain, the president's men are still firing at us!" one of his men told him. "Some of us are injured, and we even lost some men!"

"Then retreat for now! Hurry! Retreat!" Raul shouted. The members of PETY quickly drove away on their vehicles. The president's men stopped shooting when they became a small speck in the distance.

"They got away, Mr. President," a guard told the president. "Your orders?"

"Forget about them for now," the president replied. "Hurry up and get the wounded treated first."

"Yes sir!"

* * *

Back in his office, Arnold was watching TV, which was broadcasting what happened at the president's office. "And the inhabitants from another dimension escaped in one of PETY's trucks," said the news reporter.

Arnold watched the news report all the way to the end, and then he said, "Accursed PETY! They just had to interfere at a time like this! And I was so close to making sure that those freaks mind their own businesses!"

After that, he approached his desk, and his secretary asked him, "Sir, how were able to convince the president to try to imprison those outsiders?"

"There's nothing a serious threat can't do!" Arnold replied as he pressed the red button on his desk to make a koreimu come out next to the former.

"Chake it eajy!" it said, and then Arnold took out a gun and shot it with a blast of air. Due to koyukkuris not being as durable as adult yukkuris, it was blown into bits by the blast. "YUBEH!"

Arnold put the gun away, while the desk cleaned up the mess by itself. He then approached the row of large windows behind his desk and looked at the scenery outside. "Those freaks are simply trying to find an excuse to end yukkuri abuse! No way am I going to let them get away with what they want! Yukkuris are trash, and people who defend them are trash as well! They're all the worst of the worst! I can't believe I'm living in the same world as all these! I will make sure that yukkuri abuse continue to go on! Even if I die, yukkuri abuse will not… I repeat: yukkuri abuse WILL NOT end!"

He ordered for his secretary to press the button on his desk, and this caused a komarisa to come out. Like with the koreimu, Arnold killed it with the air gun.

BANG!

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

In case you haven't figured out yet, Arnold is the same person who unleashed his anger on yukkuris at the end of previous chapter.

Red Pikmin cannot generate heat; they are simply immune to fire. However, in SSBB, they can deal fire-based damage, hence the reason I gave it the ability to generate heat here.

I'm going on church retreat on Thursday and won't be back until Sunday, so it'll take a while for the next chapter to come out. Please have patience while I'm gone.

God bless you all!

**Trivia:  
**1. When Pichu said "a game of objection", he was referring to the Ace Attorney series.


	6. Uneasy Situation

I'm back from church retreat!

Sorry for the long wait... Because I wasn't able to work on the story at all during my absence, this chapter will be considerably shorter than the previous ones in order to make it come out faster.

I hope you won't mind this…

**Chapter 6  
Uneasy Situation**

* * *

After escaping from the president's office, the Smashers drove the truck they hijacked from PETY down the path heading for the rural area. "Where are we going?" Falco asked Snake, who was at the wheel.

"Considering what the president planned to do with us, I don't think it's safe for us to stay in the city anymore," he replied. "Therefore, I'm thinking of driving out to the countryside or the woods to hide out instead."

In the back of the truck, the other Smashers heard what Snake said. "Snake has a point," Link said. "I don't think anyone in the city is going to treat us with friendliness anymore, especially after we tried to stop yukkuri abuse."

"I can't believe that things turned out like this…" Olimar said. "I was hoping that we can put an end to things very soon and with ease…" His Pikmin was around him, comforting him by patting him.

"Eets clear that-a things won't-a be easy to resolve anymore…" Mario said. "We'll have to find-a anotha way. I'm sure we can think-a of something."

* * *

After several minutes of driving, the truck entered the woods, and Snake kept on driving until they came to a stop in a large clearing. "This place should be safe," Snake said. "Until we can find a better place to stay at, we'll be staying here."

"Better than having to live in the same place as those sick abusers," Falco said.

They were about to get off the truck when suddenly its communication device sounded. They stared at the communicator for several seconds and then at each other, wondering whether or not they should answer it. The communicator kept on sounding, so Snake eventually picked it up and held it close to his mouth. "Hello?"

"This is Raul speaking. The ones who took one of our trucks! I demand a reason for your actions at once!"

"What do you want?" Snake replied.

"What do I want? I should be the one asking that! You took our truck without permission and messed up our attempt to use the president to scare everyone in order to put an end to yukkuri abuse! If I know where you are now, I would've gone there and kill you all!"

"Like you actually can…"

"Try me! Anyway, if I'm not mistaken, you're the same people who came to my base two days ago, right? I recognize some of you."

"Yes, we are the same group of people."

"Why are you at the president's office? Are you there to convince him to put an end to yukkuri abuse or what?"

"Exactly what you said, but let's just say things aren't successful. We're people from another dimension after all, so the people here aren't going to trust us very much."

"Say what?!"

"Just go ahead and tell him everything," Falco said to Snake. "There's no point in hiding the truth anymore, especially when pretty much everyone else knows about us by now."

"Right," Snake said with a nod, and then he proceeded to explain to Raul everything about them.

After listening to Snake's story, Raul said, "This is interesting… To think that people from another dimension would come here and try to resolve something that has no relation to their world…"

"We probably wouldn't care about what is happening here if it weren't for the Destructor."

"So… this Destructor monster has the capability to destroying everything in this world, right?"

"Exactly."

"And how are you going to return to your own world?"

"Our superior said he will contact us in a week, which is three days from now. We'll see what he managed to come up with by then."

"I see…"

Snake became silent for a few seconds and then said, "Why do I have the feeling that you're up to something?"

"If the Destructor can put an end to those abusers… Heeheehee!"

Feeling uneasy, Snake said to him, "You better not be planning anything heinous! We won't let you get away with this!"

"Let's just say that you made me think of something. Well, I'll contact you again in a week! Hope your superior does show up by then!" With that, the conversation ended.

"Hey! Get back here!" Snake said. He pressed a button on the control panel to call back, but the other side never answered. "He's definitely up to something!"

Everyone stepped down from the truck and gathered around in a circle in front of it. "Okay, so from what I heard just now," Fox said. "Raul contacted us, and you revealed to him the truth about us, and he seems to be up to something after hearing about it, right?"

"That's what I think," Snake replied with a nod. "I'm very suspicious about him saying that the Destructor will put an end to the abusers."

"He wants the Destructor to destroy the abusers?" Diddy asked.

"But that would mean letting the Destructor be resurrected…" Pikachu said. "Don't tell me that he plans to…"

"This is just an assumption, but I really do think that he may actually want the Destructor to be resurrected so that it can unleash chaos to this world and the abusers," Snake said.

"That's insane!" Pichu said in shock. "How can he think of doing something like that?! He's going to end up destroying himself and all the yukkuris as well! He's only going to make things worse for the yukkuris that way!"

"But he also asked about how we are going to go back to our own world, and I told him that Master Hand will contact us three days from now," Snake added. "He seems to be very interested in that too."

"So if I'm not-a wrong," Mario said, "he wants to meet-a Masta Hand-a and negotiate with him about-a something?"

"Convince Master Hand into letting the Destructor be brought back to life and then allow him, his organization, and the yukkuris to escape to our world or another dimension using the dimension-hopping machine the former created?" Falco said. "Makes sense if you think of it…"

"If that really is the case, then we really should stop him," Link said. "We are here to stop the Destructor from being resurrected, and even though the way yukkuris are being treated here is very anger-inducing, the abusers do not deserve something as terrible as having the Destructor being unleashed against them."

"Jigglypuff agrees!" the balloon Pokemon said with a nod.

"Then we'll have to stop Raul and PETY at all cost!" Pikachu said. "We must let them realize that their plan is beyond messed up! It makes no sense that he wants to destroy his own world either!"

"Honestly saying, if I'm a citizen of this world and don't like the way things are here, I would actually be glad to see it getting destroyed or its messed up citizens receiving the biggest lessons of their lifetimes," Falco said. "Still, I do agree that if that really is what Raul is up to, then we'll have to stop him before it's too late."

"But how is he planning to resurrect the Destructor?" Olimar asked.

"I did tell him that killing is what causes the Destructor to come back to life," Snake said. "I'm afraid that he's going to do it by mass murdering."

"That's horrible!" Diddy gasped. "We really have to stop him now! There's no fun in killing tons of people just to resurrect the Destructor, who will kill even more people!"

"Right! Raul is the kind of person who would mass murder for the sake of obtaining what he wants!" Luigi added.

"Calm down! This is just an assumption!" Fox told them. "We're not sure if that is really what he plans to do, so we shouldn't be jumping to conclusions just yet. Perhaps we should wait until a week later when Master Hand contacts us, and then we'll talk to him regarding all that happened to us here. After that, we can decide what to do."

Suddenly, they heard a high-pitched cry coming from afar. "Stop it!" it cried. "Babies don't be born easy!"

"That sounds like a yukkuri in distress!" Olimar said.

Pichu pointed to the direction northwest of the truck and said, "It came from that way!" So the Smashers quickly headed there.

* * *

A reimu pregnant with a stalk was in front of a hole that had tacks at the bottom of it, and four koyukkuris were hanging from the stalk, ready to be born any moment. Standing nearby was a mustachioed hiker with a hat and shades, and he was holding three crying koyukkuris in his hand. Two were koreimus, and one was as komarisa. "Baby! Please don't be born easy!" the reimu cried. Its feet were burned, so it was unable to move away from its spot.

"Heeheehee!" the hiker laughed. "Hurry up and be born easy into this world, little babies! That way, you can fall into the pit and get impaled by the tacks! And if you try to do anything like running away, even though it's obvious that you can't at the moment, I will crush your kids!"

"Mommy! Sabe us!" the koyukkuris in his hand cried.

"Please don't hurt little ones!" the reimu cried.

Suddenly, Donkey Kong came rushing out from among the bushes and in the direction of the hiker, roaring with anger. He caught the shocked hiker by his collar and then used his other hand to catch the koyukkuris, who fell off of the latter's hand. Diddy quickly rushed over to fetch the koyukkuris using his hat.

Donkey then pinned the hiker against the tree and shouted into his face, "YOU ENJOY DOING THAT, RIGHT?! WELL, GUESS WHAT?! I THINK I'M GOING TO ENJOY CRUSHING YOUR SKULL AND THEN STOMPING YOU INTO SMITHEREENS!"

The other Smashers came into the scene, and Fox said to the gorilla, "Donkey! That's enough! We shouldn't go too far!" Meanwhile, Olimar went over to the reimu and took it away from in front of the hole.

Donkey flung the hiker to the side, and then the Smashers approached him, all of them with serious looks on their faces. "You… What are you going to do…?!" the frightened hiker asked while slowly crawling backwards. "And what and who are you…?!"

"Get out of here right now," Link said in a stern voice. "We mean it."

"You're… You're not supposed to stop me! It's the law! Don't you know that…?"

Snake and Falco took out their guns and pointed them at him. "We mean it," Snake said. "Don't make us pull the triggers."

"And before you go, we demand an explanation for why you did that," Falco said. "We'll let you go completely unharmed if your reason is valid enough."

"Those… Those yukkuris… They talked badly to me!" the hiker replied.

"And why did they do that?" the anthropomorphic bird asked.

"Because I ran over the father with my truck by accident, and then the mother and the children angrily shouted at me. I said sorry, but they were still angry, so I angrily kicked and killed two of her children. After that, I burned the feet of the mother and placed her in front of a tack-filled hole I made in order to kill her babies when they are born. I also burned the feet of her other three children and threatened to crush them with my hand if the mother tries to do anything!"

Falco pulled the trigger, and a blue beam zipped across right next to the hiker's face, freaking him out. "A person who took the life of an innocent creature has no right to do this," Falco said in a voice that was filled with anger. "Did you seriously think that a simple apology would work for murder? It's even more unacceptable that you pretty much threatened to kill the whole family on purpose after that."

"Get out of here at once," Snake said, still with his gun pointing at the hiker. "We don't care if you tell everyone else about this. We will not tolerate the way of this world any longer, and we are serious."

The hiker, with his feet wobbling, got up and ran to his truck and then drove away as fast as he could. After the vehicle designed for off-road traveling was out of sight, Snake and Falco put away their guns. "I really felt like shooting him right in the forehead just now," Falco said while breathing angry, clearing filled with rage.

"The same could be said for me," Snake said.

"So this is how we should be doing things?" Pichu asked. "Threaten them without hurting them?"

"Right, unless the person really insists on defying us," Fox said. "Still, I hope that we avoid violence as much as possible."

Mario turned to Olimar, who was tending to the yukkuris by "painting" their feet with orange juice, and asked him, "How are they?"

"They're fine," Olimar said. "No big injuries other than burned feet, which orange juice can easily fix."

After he was done with all four of them, the reimu said, "Thank you very much, nice misters! It's good to see you again, nice misters!"

"Hello again, nice misters!" the three koyukkuris said.

"Um… Do we know each other?" Pikachu asked.

"I think these are the same yukkuris we first met when we came to this world," Olimar explained.

The koyukkuris went up to Olimar and rubbed against his legs, and then the Pikmin petted them. Link bent down in front of the remiu and asked her, "That man killed your husband and two of your children. Is that true?"

"It's true!" the reimu replied. "Mean mister ran over marisa with his mister car, so reimu and reimu's children are angry at him, and then he made two of my children take it easy forever!"

"Take it easy forever…?"

"I think she meant that the children are… in afterlife, where they can take it easy forever. You know, like being in heaven…"

"Yukkuris go to heaven when they die?" Parry asked.

"Now you see," Link said to the reimu, "had you not be angry at that person after he apologized to you, this wouldn't have happened."

"Mean mister killed marisa!" the reimu said in an angry tone. "Saying sorry is not enough! Saying sorry cannot bring marisa back to life, so reimu and reimu's children are very angry!"

"It's understandable," Snake said. "Causing the death of someone, even if it is an accident, is something that cannot be gotten away with just by apologizing."

"Forgiving others for their crimes and mistakes is an ethical thing to do," Fox said. "However, I do understand the feeling of losing someone you love in the hands of another person, even if it is an accident. If I lose someone close to me, I'm not sure if I can ever forgive the person who caused this, even if he sincerely apologized."

"Still, think of what could have been avoided if the yukkuris didn't go into a fit of rage after seeing the father getting killed," Link said. "Not that I'm saying that it's entirely the yukkuris' fault, mind you… Just like what Fox said, I know it's the right thing to do to forgive someone for their mistakes, but if that person accidentally caused the death of someone close to me, I would be so angry that even apologies wouldn't work."

"It's easy to say, but hard to be done…" Olimar said while rubbing the reimu's head. "It doesn't matter what course of action the yukkuris should have taken, a tragedy has happened today… By the way, can you show us where your husband and two children are? Perhaps there is still hope for them…"

The reimu and the koyukkuris turned to look in a certain direction, and the Smashers looked over there to see a splattered mess of black bean paste on the ground. The yukkuris then looked at a nearby tree, and the Smashers looked there to see two koyukkuris splattered against it.

"Well…? Eez there still hope-a?" Mario asked.

"I'm sure no…" Olimar said while slowly shaking his head.

The reimu felt said and started to regret her previous actions. "Did reimu really do the wrong thing?"

"It's understandable why you did that," Link said to it. "However, that man himself is wrong as well. The fact that he slaughtered two of your children and then tried to kill your unborn babies is plain wrong."

"Yeah! You did something wrong, and the other person gets angry at you, so you get back at him! That makes so much sense!" Falco said. "The more I think about this, the more I get angrier at the twisted sense of morality the people of this world have!"

"I have to agree with you," Snake said with a nod. "The people here really have twisted ways of doing things…"

Suddenly, the eyes of the koreimu at the front end of the stalk opened its eyes and said in a loud, high-pitched voice, "Chake it eajy!"

* * *

That night, the Smashers and the yukkuris were seated around a campfire, and all the koyukkuris on the reimu's stalk was born.

The Smashers wondered what they should do next, and Falco expressed his anger against the humans of this world, even going as far as saying that he would've lost faith in humanity if it weren't for the humans from his world and his human friends. They suddenly heard loud cries, and believing that it was the sound of yukkuris getting abused, Link, Falco, Fox, Snake, Donkey, Diddy, and Mario stood up and headed over to where the cry came from to find out the truth. The other Smashers stayed behind to look after the sleeping yukkuris.

The Smashers made their way through the woods, and it didn't take too long for them to come to a clearing. There, they saw the sight of four men and some yukkuris that were clearly being abused. "Figures…" Falco quietly grumbled.

They saw a total of twelve yukkuris, six of them impaled through one thin pole that was sticking up from the ground, and another six impaled in the same manner. Because they were not impaled directly through the center, their paste cores were untouched, so they were still alive, but they were feeling pain and were also constantly crying to be freed.

Three guys were standing nearby, laughing at the yukkuris and cheering for the fourth person standing in front of the two poles. One of the three guys was a morbidly obese man dressed in white shirt and jeans, and he wore glasses and had a bowl-shaped haircut—Doug. "Hooray! Hooray! Yukkuris are gonna get killed! I love it when yukkuris get abused and killed! Hoohoohoo!" he happily said while jumping up and down in a manner that made his massive belly swing and bounce around.

"Yeah! Yukkuri abuse is, like, the best thing ever!" said the second person, who wore black shirt, jeans, and a red hat. He had straight, blond hair that reached to his shoulders and a large nose—Bill.

The third guy wore a white shirt that had the message "_I love yukkuri abuse_" written on it and jeans, and he had a semi-spiky hairstyle that stuck straight up and a pair of thick eyebrows—Joe. "C'mon, Deforestrator! Kill all those yukkuris for us!" he said. "Show off your amazing skills at killing yukkuris!"

The person standing in front of the impaled yukkuris was a man with a really big body build. His head was completely concealed by a dual-horned knight's helmet and wore only jeans—Brad Ferral, A.K.A. "The Deforestrator". Held in his hands was a very long chain that had an axe head at each end of them.

The Deforestrator let out a roar as he swung his chained axes into the air to slice the screaming yukkuris, cutting them right down the middle, along with the poles. Immediately, the three guys ran over to the severed yukkuris, which had fallen sideways onto the ground, and kicked and then trampled them constantly, laughing while doing so. "This is fun! This is fun!" Dough said while jumping up and down on the yukkuris in a manner that almost resembled dancing.

"Stomping yukkuris is more fun when they are alive, but this is still fun too!" Bill said while stomping the yukkuris.

"The Deforestrator sure is awesomely skilled when it comes to killing yukkuris!" Joe said while doing the same thing. "They say he got his name from the fact that he lives in the woods, hunting down and killing every single yukkuri he comes across, and whenever he goes on rampage, he ends up cutting down several of the trees in the area. Deforesting, that is!"

The Smashers watched with anger and disgust from their hiding places, and Falco looked like he was going to explode any minute. Fox and Snake placed their hands on his shoulders in case he was going to do something. "Calm down," Fox whispered into the bird's ear. "We mustn't blow our cover!

"I don't care about that anymore…!" Falco said with his teeth gritted.

"I'm just as ready to punch them in the face as you," Snake said to him, "but I'm trying my best to hold back my anger as well. We mustn't act just yet."

Link scanned the place, hoping to see if there were any yukkuris nearby that needed helping, and he noticed a box on the other side that was shaking and giving off cries, obviously the cries of yukkuris. However, they decided that it was too much trouble to circle over to that side, and the Desforestrator was seen heading over to the box too. The Smashers watched as he opened the box to take out more yukkuris, and then they turned to leave, not wanting to see the inevitable sight of yukkuris getting abused and killed. On their way back to the others, they could hear cries of agony coming from behind.

"Are we seriously going to do nothing about them?" Donkey asked in a voice that clearly showed anger.

"Tomorrow," Fox replied. "If they are still around in the woods tomorrow, we will confront them and convince them to stop. If they really refuse to listen to us, then they leave us no choice. Even so, we must avoid going too far."

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

As you can see, the story has returned to where it originally began. Now you know how the Smashers end up in the situation you read at the beginning of the first chapter, right?

I originally intended for Raul to explicitly tell the Smashers what he has in mind, but then dropped that idea, because I thought it wasn't a very smart move for him to reveal his plan so fast. Because of this, the part about Snake saying PETY becoming more active and dangerous in the beginning of the first chapter may sound a bit strange…

The inspiration for the Deforestrator's design comes from Hades of the God of War series.


	7. The Fight For Easiness in the Woods

There's something not right about the previous chapter… Axes are supposed to be thinner toward the blade and thicker towards the back, so when the Deforestrator cut the yukkuris in the previous chapter, the ones toward the top should fall apart in half and not stay together. Because of this, that particular scene in the previous chapter has been altered.

**Chapter 7  
The Fight For Easiness in the Woods**

* * *

It was the morning of the next day, and the Smashers and the yukkuris they rescued the day before were eating breakfast consisting of berries, fruits, and fish. While eating fish, Luigi said with a mouthful, "Good thing we didn't have to resort to eating yukkuris for breakfast."

"Yeah, though I wouldn't mind eating them if their tastes are preserved even after you kill them," Link said while eating his fish. "Pity that the only way to preserve their tastes is to have them die during the cooking process; otherwise, they'll taste rotten."

"It's probably because of that that we have no qualms eating other kinds of living creatures," Snake said as he ate his.

"I didn't see you kill these fish," Pikachi said while eating an apple. "How did you kill them?"

"Smacked them against a rock," Snake replied.

"Okay… Better than cutting them, removing their innards, and then roasting them while they're still alive, I guess…"

After they were done with breakfast, the Smashers stood in a circle and talked with each other regarding what to do next. "We'll move out and see if the abusers from yesterday are still around here," Fox said. "Rescue the yukkuris from their hands, but don't use violence unless there's really no choice. Also, make sure not to take lives no matter what."

"Then they better cooperate with us," Falco said.

"I'll stay here and look after these yukkuris," Olimar said, pointing to the mother reimu and her children. "After you've rescued any yukkuris, bring them back here, and I will tend to those that are injured."

This plan sounded good to the Smashers, and then they separated to go to different parts of the woods. Link, Donkey, and Diddy went together as a group, the Mario Bros. together in a pair, the three Pokemon together, and Falco, Snake, and Fox each went by themselves. Olimar, his Pikmin, and Parry stayed behind to look after the yukkuris.

* * *

"Everything's pretty quiet so far," Luigi commented as he strolled through the woods with his older brother. "I hope they're gone. That makes it better for the yukkuris, and we don't have to get into conflicts too."

"At-a least that-a guy called da Deforestrator should still be here," Mario told him. "He supposedly leevs in the woods afta all."

"I hope he's someone who can be negotiated with easily… From the description you told us yesterday, he seems to be a pretty scary fellow…"

"Look-a!" Mario said, pointing to a cave at the side of a cliff.

"What about it?" Luigi asked.

"Eet might be a yukkuri lair. Olima told-a uz that-a caves are one of da places where yukkuris build-a their nests."

"Yeah, he did say that. So you think yukkuris might live in there? Let's go over and check, then."

So both the brothers entered the cave, which was relatively spacious, and they were immediately greeted with a sight that horrified them. "Mamamia!" Mario gasped.

"Ma… ma… mia…!" Luigi slowly said. Eyeballs, teeth, strands of hair, fillings, flattened and lifeless bodies… Remains of yukkuris, all of them reimu and marisa types of various ages, were splattered all over the place. Not a single one of them could be considered to be in one piece. Even ones that were still considered to be in one piece were stomped flat and their fillings leaked out all around them. "This is… horrible…!"

Mario slowly walked forward while looking at the yukkuri remains. "Who could've done theez…? Poor yukkuris…"

Luigi bent down in front of a yukkuri that was both flattened and torn into four pieces. "I'm only glad that I'm not seeing blood and guts; otherwise, the sight of this place would've made me faint and have nightmares for weeks… Even so, this is a very gruesome and horrible sight… An entire cave of yukkuris… All dead…"

Mario bent down in front of a flattened yukkuri and noticed a shoeprint on the same part of the ground as it. "Eet's definitely da work-a of an abusa… Theez shoeprint-a eez a dead-a giveaway…"

"Why would they do that…?" Luigi asked as he stood back up and looked around the place. "Simply for the sake of entertainment? The people who did this wouldn't happen to be the same people you met yesterday night, right?"

"Maybe… I can't-a tell eef theez shoeprint eez recently made-a or not."

* * *

Doug, Bill, and Joe were happily skipping through the woods while singing a song about yukkuri abuse. They soon set their eyes upon a cave at the side of a cliff. "Look at that!" Bill said. "Looks like another yukkuri nest! You know what that means!"

Doug jumped up and down happily, his oversized belly bouncing as he did. "Yay! Yay! Yay! More yukkuris to abuse! I love yukkuri abuse!"

"C'mon! Let's go over there and abuse some more yukkuris!" Joe said, and then they happily skipped over to the cave and went inside it.

"Hey? What are these strange creatures?" asked the voice of Bill.

"I don't know…" replied the voice of Joe. "The two yellow ones look like mice, and the pink puffing one… Can it be a new species of yukkuri?"

"Speaking of yukkuris, I see some behind them!" said the voice of Doug. "C'mon! Let's squash them!"

"But these two mouse-like creatures are generating electricity!" Bill said. "They look angry! It's as if they are defending the yukkuris! What do we do?"

"They're just mice! What harm can they possibly do?" Joe said. "The electricity is probably weak."

"For the sake of abusing yukkuris, I'm willing to go through fire and water!" Doug said.

"Don't worry; I have a baseball bat with me!" Joe said. "We'll just whack these strange creatures away if they attack us, and then we'll go for the yukkuris!"

"Yeah! Nothing is going to stop us from abusing yukkuris! I can't wait to stomp them flat!" Bill said.

"Hooray! Let the abusing begin!" Doug exclaimed

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

Bright, yellow light poured out of the cave entrance, and when it stopped, the three guys came running out screaming, and their bodies were charred from head to toe. Pikachu and Pichu came out of the cave, and the latter loudly said to them, "Weak electricity? Size does not matter in some cases! Get that into your mind! And don't blame us for not giving you a warning! You made us do it!"

Inside, Jigglypuff was saying to a family of marisas and reimus, "Pikachu and Pichu took care of mean misters! Yukkuris can now take it easy!"

"Thank you, kind misters!" the father marisa said to her. "Take it easy yourself too-ze!"

* * *

"Careful… The water here is pretty rapid," Link said to Donkey and Diddy as they walked across a log that was placed on top of river of rapid, fast-moving water. "Falling down there is no laughing matter if you can't swim, and even if you can swim, I don't think you're going to get out of it so easily…"

"That should be obvious…" Diddy said, looking down at the water.

They crossed over to the other side easily, and shortly after they set foot onto the ground, they heard the sound of crashing. "You heard that?" Diddy asked. "It sounds like a tree falling."

"Free hauling?" Donkey asked.

"Tree falling?" Link curiously said. "Why do I have the feeling that…?" Before he could finish speaking, he heard the same sound again. "It's seems to be coming from nearby! I have a feeling that it's him!"

"Who?" Diddy asked, but Link ran forward without answering him. "Hey! Where are you going? Wait up!" The two primates followed him through the woods, and the sounds of crashing became louder and louder. Eventually, they saw trees toppling over in the distance. "Whoa! What's happening?!"

The three of them stopped moving and tried to get a better look at what was happening, and then they could hear the sound of high-pitched screaming. Finally, they noticed a person standing in the far back of the trees, swinging around a pair of axe heads connected to chains, and trees were being cut down with ease by them. "I knew it! It's him! The Deforestrator!" Link said.

Suddenly, a komarisa came rushing in their direction, crying loudly. "Help! Help mawisa!" it cried. "Pwease help mawisa fwom mean mister!" The koyukkuri stopped in front of Diddy, who bent down to pick it up.

"Don't worry; we'll protect you from that mean mister!" he told it.

The Deforestrator was letting out loud cries as he cut down trees while moving in their direction, and cries of yukkuris could be heard coming from close to him. Thinking that it would be too dangerous to be near him due to the falling trees, the Smashers quickly moved back. They watched from a distance as the Deforestrator went on rampage killing the unseen yukkuris. Eventually, he came to a stop and breathed heavily, presumably having killed the yukkuris he was after.

"Man! That guy is crazy!" Donkey commented.

"I know, right?" Link said.

At where he was standing, the Deforestrator looked to the side and noticed a komarisa hiding next to a falling tree. Immediately, he let out a roar that freaked out the koyukkuri and then swung down one of his chained axes at it. Quick as a flash, Link jumped at the axe and managed to block it with his shield. The Deforestrator pulled back his axe, and Link said to him, "Don't you think you have enough? Look at all the mess you've created from killing yukkuris! This is vandalizing, you know?"

The komarisa quickly used this opportunity to escape, and it ran into Diddy and saw the komarisa in his hand. Diddy put the one in his hand onto the ground, and it told the one down there that these people just saved it and that they were nice people who were willing to help them.

Donkey walked forward and stood next to Link with a look of anger on his face. "Get out of my way!" the Deforestrator said to the two. "I'm going to kill that yukkuri!"

"Give us one good reason you want to kill it!" Link said to him. "And no, wanting to kill it just because you don't like yukkuris for no reason or simply because you like to abuse them is not a good reason!"

"Turn back now, or else we will not go smoothly on you!" Donkey added. "We do not wish to use violence, but you leave us no choice if you don't listen to us!"

"Get out of my way!" the Deforestrator shouted at them. "I mean it! Don't make me make you regret your actions!"

"We can say the same thing to you too!" Link said. When the Deforestrator noticed Diddy taking the two komarisas away, he let out a roar and then ran after them, but Donkey immediately lunged forward and punched him hard in the stomach to send him flying back.

POW!

"You sure fly far for someone with a size like that!" Donkey commented.

The Deforestrator stood back up and shouted at the top of his voice, "YOU'RE ASKING FOR IT! I'M GOING TO KILL THE BOTH OF YOU!"

"You're asking for it too!" Donkey said. "However, we're not going to kill you, only knocking some senses into you!"

"Geez… And I was hoping that we can talk things over peacefully… But then, you don't look like the kind of person who would listen to words so easily," Link said. "Guess you leave us no choice but to fight back."

* * *

Falco was very sure that he heard the sound of a yukkuri screaming. It sounded as if whatever making the cry was moving farther and farther, as the screaming quickly became softer and softer. "There's got to be an abuser nearby!" he thought, and then he quickly made his way through the woods.

After a bit of walking, he saw a person, so he quickly hid behind a tree to avoid getting seen and then peeked out from behind it. He saw a man with brown flat top hair cut standing next to a reimu that had its feet burned. The yukkuri cried for the man to stop as he put a koreimu with burned feet onto a tee. Giggling with enthusiasm and with a large smile on his face, the man raised a golf club into the air to ready to take a swing at the koreimu, who was crying to its mother for help.

"Hey you! Stop it at once!" Falco shouted as he stepped out from the behind the tree and pointed at the man.

The man looked up at Falco for a few seconds, seemingly not surprised by his appearance, and then asked, "Stop what? Hitting this yukkuri, you mean?" Then he swung the golf club at the koyukkuri to send it flying through the air.

"MY BABYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" the reimu cried in horror while looking in the direction its child flew.

"HOW DARE YOU?!" Falco angrily shouted as he ran up to the man and forcefully pulled him in front of his face by the collar. "You've got guts to do that even after I told you not to hit it, don't you?!"

With a large smile that could be considered a silly-looking one on his face, the man giggled and then said, "Ooooh! Look who's angry! The big bird is puffing steam like a train! Choochoo!"

"What are you?! Insane?!"

"Not any more insane than you telling me to stop! Heeheehee!"

Enraged, Falco swung the man against a nearby tree, and then he held him by the collar while pinning him against the former. "I'm not joking with you here!"

"You wouldn't happen to be one of those outsiders I heard about yesterday, right?" the man asked. "You're doing this because the world is going to be destroyed by some big ugly monster if we don't stop abusing yukkuris, right? Heeheehee! That is so funny!"

"We're serious about that!" Falco shouted into his face. "Right now, I have no interest in talking about that with you! Like I said before, you've got guts to use that koyukkuri as a golf ball despite the fact I told you to stop! You're trying to get on my nerves, aren't you?!"

"So what if I am? I love playing golf with yukkuris, and I don't care what people say! Heeheehee!"

The man's giggling annoyed Falco, so he pulled back his fist and punched him in the face. Despite getting punched square in the nose, the man was still smiling. "Heeheehee!" he giggled. "Look whose using violence to resolve things now! Hahaha!"

"How can you still laugh about this?!" Falco angrily said before punching him across the face several times.

With every hit, the man let out a cry that sounded more like laughing. When Falco stopped punching him, the man laughed so hard that his voice barely came out. "Hahahahaha! Boy! Aren't you funny fellow?! Did your parents ever tell you that you need anger management?" the man asked while laughing.

Falco pulled back his head and then slammed its back against the tree hard. "And did anyone ever tell you that you need to go to the mental hospital?!" he angrily asked the latter.

Still laughing, the man replied, "Now that I think of it, you're the first person ever to say something like that to me! Nope! No one ever said I need to go to the mental hospital, because I'm not mad! Totally not mad! I ain't even mad! Heeheehee!"

Even more pissed off by this, Falco let out a cry of anger as he swung the man to the back and onto the ground. He then walked up to him and stomped him over and over. The man defended himself with his arms, laughing like crazy all the while. "Haha! Hoho! Wahahahaha! Hahahahaha! Wahahaha!"

The more the man laughed, the angrier Falco became, so he stomped even harder. When he was done stomping him, Falco picked up the man and flung him against the same tree, and the latter hit his forehead against it before falling to the ground. When the man looked up, he noticed a lair underneath the tree that had a koreimu inside, so he reached his hand into it, grabbed the koyukkuri, and showed it to Falco. "Hey look, a koyukkuri!" he said.

Seeing that koreimu, the reimu shouted, "My last baby!"

Falco reached out his hand to him and shouted, "You better don't…" But before he could finish speaking, the man squeezed the koreimu to death in his hand in an instant. "THAT DOES IT!" The man pointed at him as the latter charged at him while roaring in anger. Falco pushed him against the tree and then punched, kneed, and kicked him furiously, and all the man did was laugh like a psychopath.

Eventually, Falco took out his gun and pointed at the man's neck. He was about to pull the trigger when suddenly he heard a feminine voice speaking to him in his head. "Remember the reason you are here for. There are things here that you cannot do, lest you aid the resurrection of the Destructor. You must learn to hold your temper and restrain your actions, lest you go too far and do something regretful. You must not let rage get the best of you."

Falco still had his gun pointed at the man after hearing this, but he eventually took his finger off the trigger and then put the gun away. He let go of the man's collar to let him drop against the side of the tree and then said to him, "There's no point in killing you. It's not going to bring back those koyukkuris."

"Of course it won't! What goes flying like a golf ball won't come back! Hahahahaha!" the man said.

"You're crazy!" Falco said before walking over to the reimu and picked her up. "C'mon, let's go. I'll get my friends to treat you at once."

The man watched Falco leave, and he said to him, "It's people like you that the decree was established in the first place, so you only have yourself to blame! To me, it's always fun to see people getting pissed off over something as fun as yukkuri abuse! Anti-abusers like you are the funniest people ever! So long as you people exist, I'm going to continue having lots of fun with yukkuris and watching you people get mad over it! Hahahaha! Hoho! Hahahaha!"

When Falco was gone from his sight, the man stopped laughing and then sighed. "Phew… What a day…"

* * *

The Deforestrator let out a roar as he swung down his chained axes onto Donkey and Link, but they both jumped out of the way. Donkey then ran at him with his fist pulled back, ready to punch him in the side of the body, but he quickly used one of his axes as a shield to block the hit. The Deforestrator tried to hit him with the other axe immediately after that, but Link knocked it off his hand with his sword.

Donkey then grabbed the Deforestrator's hand and judo slammed him against the ground really hard, making him drop his weapon as well. The gorilla then jumped at him with his arms raised into the air, ready to hammer him in the body, but he quickly rolled out of the way. After Donkey hit the ground, the Deforestrator grabbed him by the head and forcefully flung him away. Link threw a boomerang at him, but he easily caught it and flung it back, and the Hylian blocked it with his shield.

The Deforestrator then rushed to his weapon to pick it up, and then he swung the axes at Link, who used his shield to block it over and over. The Deforestrator then swung his axes horizontally at his legs, so he quickly jumped up. Donkey quickly jumped at the axes and caught one of it by its chain, and then he tried to pull the whole thing off the Deforestrator's hands. The Deforestrator also pulled back to avoid getting his weapon taken, and while doing so, he swung down the other axe at Donkey, who sidestepped to avoid it.

After pulling back the axe that he swung, the Deforestrator made a surprising move of running forward and shoulder bashing Donkey to knock him on his back, and then the former raised his axes into the air to bring them down onto him. Suddenly, Diddy flew into him from the side and kicked him in the waist to stop him. Diddy landed and then insulted him with a silly face, and then the Deforestrator raised one axe into the air to ready to swing it at him, but Link quickly caught his hand with the claw shot.

While the Deforestrator's hand was stopped, Donkey ran at him while winding up his fist, and then he punched him hard in the stomach.

POW!

The Deforestrator cried in pain as he shot back through the air, and Link quickly let go of the claw shot and stepped to the side in order to avoid getting hit by him. The Deforestrator flew into a tree and pushed it down. In fact, he didn't come to a stop until he knocked down four trees. When he got back up, he saw Donkey running at him with his arm winding up for another punch. He swung down both his axes at the gorilla, but the latter quickly stepped to the side and then made a quick leap at him to give him a powerful left hook to send him flying.

SMAAAAAAAAASH!

The Deforestrator once again knocked down several trees as he flew sideways, and when he came to a stop, he was close to the raging river. Donkey appeared before him and lunged at him for yet another punch, and the Deforestrator desperately held up his axes to protect himself, but the powerful punch managed to shatter them, much to the latter's surprise.

However, it managed to keep Donkey's fist from reaching the Deforestrator, and the latter quickly recovered from his shock and caught the gorilla's arm. He forcefully bent the gorilla's arm to break it and make him cry in pain. Grabbing Donkey by the neck, the Deforestrator raised him in the air and began strangling him. "You'll pay dearly for destroying my axes!" he said to the struggling gorilla.

Because the voice was loud, and he was at a close range, Donkey managed to hear what he said clearly. "As if I'm going to pay you something you're going to use for taking lives!" he angrily replied, and then he gave the Deforestrator a headbutt.

CONK!

Though the helmet protected the Deforestrator from the headbutt, the vibration of the helmet when it got hit made him drop Donkey and uncontrollably take steps backward. He fell off the edge, which led to a short falling distance into the river. However, he managed to hold onto the former. Donkey went up to edge to look down at him, and the Deforestrator growled in anger as he caught his foot. "Hey!" the former cried. The gorilla was then pulled down the edge, and they both fell into the river.

SPLAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Link and Diddy ran up to the edge and looked down to see that the both of them were helplessly washed down the raging river. The water was way too rough for either of them to swim back to dry ground, and there was no way Link and Diddy could help any of them too. "Donkey! Nooooooooooooo!" Diddy cried. All they could do was watch the two get carried off farther and farther until the sight of them was blocked off by trees when the flow of the river made a turn to the side

"Let's hope they're all right…" Link said. "Not that I actually care about that person, mind you…"

Suddenly, high-pitched cries called out to them. "Misters!" They looked to see that it was the two komarisas they rescued earlier.

"You put them onto the other side of the river?" Link asked Diddy.

"I thought it would be safer for them, since that guy isn't over there. I didn't feel like running all the way back to where Olimar and Parry are…" the latter replied.

As the two komarisas were happily bouncing up and down, Doug, Bill and Joe suddenly appeared from among the trees behind them. The two Smashers widened their eyes in horror when they saw them.

"Look at what we have here!" Joe said.

"Yay! Yukkuris to abuse! Hooray!" Doug said while jumping up and down happily.

"C'mon! Let's kick them into the river!" Bill suggested.

"Hey you! Don't you dare do anything to those yukkuris!" Link shouted at the three guys. The komarisas quickly ran as fast as they could to the side and eventually into the woods, and the three guys followed them, moving slower than them on purpose in order to "lengthen the fun".

"Mind your own business!" Doug said to the Smashers while sticking out his tongue and pulling down the skin underneath his eye.

"We have to get over to the other side fast!" Diddy said. He looked to the side and saw that the log they crossed over wasn't too far away, but Link had another idea.

"Grab hold of my hand! I'll pull us all to the other using my claw shot!" Link said as he took out his claw shot and aimed at a tree on the other side, and Diddy did as he said. After making his aim, Link pulled the trigger, and the claw was launched at the tree and then quickly pulled them across the river. They immediately ran in the same direction the komarisas and the three guys headed to.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED


	8. An Uneasy Sounding Yet Possible Plan

In case some of you haven't figured it out yet, the yukkuri nest hole that the Mario Bros. discovered in the previous chapter were attacked by Doug, Bill, and Joe.

**Chapter 8  
An Uneasily-Sounding Yet Possible Plan**

* * *

The two komarisas cried for help as they bounced through the woods, being chased by Doug, Bill, and Joe. Even though the three guys were clearly able to catch up with the koyukkuris with no effort, they decided to run slowly on purpose and gaining speed little by little in order to make things more exciting for themselves.

"We're almost catching up to them!" Bill happily said.

"Yay! Yay! Yay! I can't wait to catch up to them and abuse them!" Doug happily said.

Suddenly, the two komarisas came to a stop in front of Snake. Thinking that he was also an abuser, they cried as they quickly ran to the side and disappeared underneath the bushes. Snake looked at the koyukkuris as they went hiding, and then he turned to the three guys. "Enjoying your little game of tag?"

"Of course! We let them outrun us on purpose!" Joe told him. "This makes the abusing more satisfying when we finally catch up with them!"

"Yeah! Certain activities are much more fun if you put effort into it, even if you purposely make it hard!" Bill added. "Want to join us?"

Snake glared at them for several seconds in silence, and then he said, "Get out of these woods and never come back here again."

"Why? There are lots of yukkuris here for us to abuse!" Bill said. "Why must we leave so early and never come back?"

"Yeah! We plan to stay here a few more days, abusing any yukkuris we come across!" Doug said. "There's no fun in leaving so early, and why do you want us to leave?"

"Get out of these woods," Snake said. "Do not make me resort to using ways that may make me regret my actions." He moved his hand close to the gun placed in the pouch strapped around his waist, and the three guys were shocked to see the weapon.

"Dude! Is that a real gun?!" Joe said. "I think this guy's serious! We better get out of here before he uses it against us!"

"Yeah! He definitely means business!" Bill said.

"But I want to abuse more yukkuris!" Doug cried. "I don't care! I'm willing to risk my life to abuse yukkuris! I want to abuse more yukkuris before I leave here! I'm not content yet! I want to abuse more yukkuris and hear more of their cries!"

Link and Diddy finally caught up with the three guys from behind, and the former said to them, "Hey you! You better not lay a hand on those two koyukkuris we rescued!"

"Yay! Snake managed to get them before us!" Diddy said.

The three guys turned around to look at the two and then at Snake again. They were afraid that these people would attack them. Snake moved his hand closer and closer to the gun until he was touching it, and then the three guys huddled together in fear.

Suddenly, all three of them heard a feminine voice speaking in their heads. "Is abusing yukkuris more important than life? Do not risk or waste your life in activities with no morality. You have taken the lives of enough yukkuris here already. There should be a limit to what you do. Hurry up and leave now, lest you bring possible harm upon yourself."

"Who said that?" Joe said, looking left and right in confusion.

"I heard a woman speaking to me just now!" Bill said.

"I heard a woman speaking to me too!" Doug added. "She told me to leave this place and don't abuse any more yukkuris!"

"I don't know what's happening, but that mysterious voice just now, the guy with the gun, and those two behind us are more than enough to make me get the heck out of here!" Joe said.

"I'm with you!" Bill said.

With that, the three guys quickly ran past Snake as fast as they could, heading in the direction of the exit. "Well, that takes care of that," Snake said as he watched them disappear into the distance. "I wonder if those two koyukkuris are all right." He went over to the bushes to look for them, but they were nowhere to be found.

Link and Diddy went over to him and looked too. "As long as they're safe, it should be all right," Link said.

"Yeah, I sure hope that those two koyukkuris will be fine," Diddy said. "By the way, what were those guys talking about when they said a woman's voice was speaking to them?"

"Perhaps their conscience is telling them to make the correct decision?" Snake said with a shrug. "Eh, whatever…"

When they turned away from the bushes, they saw a green-haired woman standing in front of them. "Shikimi!" Link said.

"I saw everything just now," she said to them with a smile. "Good job! You managed to deal with them without resorting to using violence! That's the way it should be! However, if you really have no choice but to play it rough, I understand too. Some abusers really are bent on continuing to abuse yukkuris, even when threatened."

"Yeah, but not those three," Snake said.

"You won't believe how persistent that Deforestrator guy is…" Diddy said. "We got into a fight with him, because he insisted on killing the komarisas we rescued. Oh yeah! Donkey! We forgot about him!"

"What happened to him?" Snake asked.

"He fell into the river along with the Deforestrator and got washed away," Link explained. "The water is very rapid, so I'm worried about them…"

"You do not have to worry about your friend," Shikimi told him. "My accomplice is on her way to rescue him. In fact, they should be back by now."

"Accomplice?" Link curiously said.

"Hey guys!" shouted a familiar-sounding voice. The three Smashers turned around to see Donkey running up to them. Not too far behind him was a red-haired woman with a pair of ponytails dressed in white and blue clothing. She was also carrying a large scythe.

"Donkey!" Diddy exclaimed as he ran at Donkey and threw himself into his arms, and they hugged each other. "I was so worried about you! I'm so glad that you're all right!"

When the red-haired girl got close to them, Link said to her, "Thank you very much for rescuing our friend!"

"It was nothing," she replied. "I was just following my boss's command. In case you're curious about the other guy, I rescued him too, but I left him at the river bank after knocking him out in order to keep him from causing any more trouble."

"You knocked him out by yourself? Well, you have a scythe, so I guess you do know how to fight…"

"How did you rescue Donkey?" Diddy asked the woman.

"Using my boat," she replied.

"A boat?"

"Can you all please gather together at the place you spent the night at?" Shikimi asked the Smashers. "Please tell the others about it too. I have something I want to tell you all."

"What is it?" Snake asked.

"Please gather together first, and then I will tell you."

* * *

All the Smashers were back at the place where they spent the night, and yukkuris that they found injured were with them as well. They were all treated by Olimar and brought back to good health.

As the yukkuris frolicked around the place, the Smashers looked at Shikimi and her accomplice. "So what is it that you want to tell us?" Link asked the former. "It seems to be something important."

"You can say that it is considered important," Shikimi said as she took off her eyeglasses. "Before that, I will now show you who I really am."

"What do you mean?" Olimar asked.

Bright light suddenly came out from all over Shikimi, blinding the Smashers and the yukkuris. "Whoa! What's happening to her!?" Pikachu asked in surprise.

When the light finally disappeared, the Smashers opened their eyes and looked at Shikimi, who was now sporting a different outfit. She wore a white and blue shirt that was accompanied by a black skirt. She also wore a hat that had the same colors as her shirt, and it was decorated with a golden emblem at the front. "That's quite a way to change your wardrobe," Snake commented.

"Please allow me to reintroduce myself," Shikimi said. "My actual name is Eiki Shiki, Judge of Paradise. I am the judge of afterlife."

The Smashers remained silent for several seconds after hearing her reintroduction, and then Luigi said, "Judge of… afterlife…?"

"Yes, I judge the spirits of people who have died, determining whether or not they should go to heaven or hell," she explained. "However, I sometimes walk among the living, under disguises, and try to convince people to change their ways of living so that they are worthy of going to heaven after they die. It hurts me to have to send people to hell, you know?"

"Okay… What proof do you have that you're the judge of afterlife?" Snake asked, skeptical of what she said. "Anyone can dress up like one and claim that he or she is one."

"Hey, Miss Shiki is telling the truth, okay?" the red-haired girl said to him.

"It's natural for people to not believe things so easily," Eiki said to her. "You will soon believe what I said is true. By the way, I forgot to introduce to you my accomplice. She is Komachi Onozuka. Her job is the guide the spirits of the dead to my podium."

"I also go after people who have been cheating death for too long in order to put them where they rightfully belong," the girl named Komachi added.

"That sounds like something a grim reaper would do…" Link said. "Wait a minute… You wouldn't happen to be…?"

Komachi nodded. "Yes, I'm a grim reaper."

"Really? I thought grim reapers are supposed to look like hooded skeletons," Luigi said.

"They come in various forms, and yes, there are some that look like your description," Komachi told him.

"All right, there is something else more important I want to talk about," Eiki told the Smashers. "Being the judge of afterlife, I have vast knowledge of all the universes in the world, and I am all too familiar with Darkling too. You people are the ones who stopped Naraku the Darkling King from bringing Darkling back into this world."

"Wow… You know that too…" Fox said. "Guess you really are the judge of afterlife…"

"The Destructor's resurrection, after over a thousand years, is finally coming back to life," Eiki said. "I am very well aware of that, and just like Master Hand, I found out that he will be resurrected in this world. You people are right in saying that the killing of yukkuris is the reason that the Destructor is coming back to life here. The Destructor is, after all, the embodiment of murder and destruction, so it only makes sense for him to be resurrected in a place where lots of killings are going on, even if the ones being killed are not human."

"It's good to have confirmation," Falco said, "but do you have anything else we don't know about yet?"

"I, too, want to prevent the resurrection of the Destructor. However, judges of afterlife are not allowed to directly interfere with the lives of people. The most they can do is to convince people to change their way of doing things." She then looked at Falco. "Do you remember hearing a voice telling you stop attacking that abuser? It was I who spoke to you."

"Yeah, I do remember a voice speaking to me," Falco said, "though I didn't give much thought to it actually… So that was you?"

"It was also I who spoke to those three men when they were confronted by Snake, Link, and Diddy," she added.

"So you're the woman's voice they talked about?" Diddy said.

"You said you cannot interfere with the daily lives of people, so that means you can't stop yukkuri abuse by yourself, right? That doesn't sound like you're going to be much help, doesn't it…?" Pichu asked.

"I do have a way of solving this problem," Eiki said. "Because yukkuri abuse is widespread in this world and has been around since the ancient days, it is nigh impossible to convince people to stop the abusing. Even if you get the majority to stop, there will always be people who continue to do it in secrecy. Therefore, the only solution to stop yukkuri abuse once and for all is to remove all the yukkuris from this world."

"Remove all da yukkuris from theez world?" Mario asked. "How eez that-a possible?"

"It may sound impossible, since yukkuris are as numerous as humans in this world, but I am very confident that there are people from a certain place back in your world who can pull off something like this."

"What place?" Fox asked.

"A place that none of you have heard about, even though it exists in the very same world you come from. That place is hidden from the rest of the world for several years, a place where lifestyle and society is still that of feudal Japan's. That place is called… Gensokyo."

"Gensokyo?" the Smashers curiously said.

"That place is located in Japan, but it is protected and hidden from view from the outside by a barrier known as the Great Hakurei Barrier. Because of this, one cannot see that world from the sky and even using the most powerful satellites. Very, very few people know of that place's existence."

"A place hidden from the rest of the world and has a lifestyle equivalent to that of Japan back hundred of years ago…? That totally sounds believable…" said a skeptical Snake.

"Anything is possible in our world, you know," Parry said to him.

"Despite being separated from the rest of the world and lacking in technology," Eiki continued, "the inhabitants of Gensokyo are still aware of the world outside and its technological advances. In fact, some people there have skills and knowledge of modern technology and science. What I plan to do is to ask the help of a certain demon there to combine her powers with technology created by the kinds of people I mentioned earlier to create something that can bring all the yukkuris out of this world."

"Combining supernatural powers and technology together to get the job done, am I right?" Fox asked. "Is this really possible?"

"To be honest, I cannot guarantee you that the technology created by the people there can really get the job done, even when combined with the power of the demon I spoke of. Therefore, I need to speak with them first regarding this. Anyway, this is the plan I have in mind."

"So even you're not-a sure eef eet will succeed, but you still want-a to geev eet-a a try, right-a?" Mario asked. "I guess eets betta to try than to do nothing…"

"I'm seriously wondering if such a plan will work…" Luigi said.

"We can always come up with something new if that doesn't work, but I have faith that it will work, even if it is hard to pull off," Eiki said. "I also plan to meet Master Hand and tell him about this. Surely he will be willing to help in this matter."

"Master Hand helping gives me more faith in this working!" Pikachu said. "If he can create a machine for gaining access to other dimensions, then surely he can come up with a way for sending all the yukkuris out of this world!"

"Where will Miss Eiki send yukkuris to?" Jigglypuff asked.

"I know a good place to send them to," Eiki said. "I will tell you more after I've talked with the ones I mentioned."

Pikachu then sniffed something in the air. "Is it just me, or is there something burning around here?"

Everyone else sniffed the air, and Diddy said, "You're right! There really is the smell of something burning!"

"It's him," Eiki said as she headed off in a certain direction. Curious, everyone else followed her until they came out of the woods and stood behind some bushes that were growing out from in front of a cliff. At the bottom of the cliff, they saw a person armed with a gun of sorts wearing a hazmat, and in front of him were what appeared to be burned yukkuris.

"What in the world…?" Fox said. "Those wouldn't happen to be yukkuris, right?"

"Burn them with fire, eh? Everything is totally a lot more fun with fire, isn't it?" Falco sarcastically said.

"That man is Fyrus Vulcanus, also known as Pyronicus," Eiki told them. "He is an abuser whose favorite method of yukkuri abuse involves fire."

"Both heez names explain a lot-a…" Mario commented.

Snickering at his "job well done", Pyronicus placed his gun against his shoulder, headed back to his truck, and drove off, heading in the direction of a mountain that was seen in the distance. "Do you see that mountain over there?" Eiki asked the Smashers. "That is Mt. Flamer, an dormant volcano. He built his house there and also carries out various forms of fire-related abusing there."

"Abusing with fire and living on top of a volcano?! That guy really is a pyromaniac!" Luigi said.

Snake suddenly thought of something. "Since we've got time to kill, why don't we head over to that guy's place and rescue the yukkuris there?" he suggested.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

As you can see, actual Touhou characters are now entering the story, though only a few will show up. This is also the reason I didn't say whether or not Shikimi is an OC when she first showed up. It was to hide the fact that she's actually Eiki.

Yes, her name is actually Eiki. Her full name, in English naming order, is Eiki Shiki. Yamaxanadu is actually her title, meaning "Judge of Paradise".

It's not wrong to call Komachi a grim reaper actually. Shinigamis are more or less the Japanese equivalent of grim reapers. In Chinese, "death god" is the literal translation for what they call grim reapers, and that term doesn't differentiate between the Japanese and Western variations.

Lastly, I refer to "youkai" as "demon" in my stories, as the latter is what most official English dubs and localizations use.


	9. Reach the Top Easy

Sorry for the wait… This isn't even that long of a chapter either… Procrastinated…

**Chapter 9  
Reach the Top Easy**

* * *

After Pyronicus's truck was gone from sight, the Smashers, Eiki, and Komachi got down from the cliff and stood by the road leading to the volcano in the distance. "How are we going to get there?" Pikachu asked.

"Just leave it to me," Komachi replied. "My specialty is manipulating distance. Just take three steps forward and you'll be at the foot of the volcano."

The Smashers turned to her with skeptical looks. "Are you serious about this…?" Link asked.

"Trust me! Just take three steps forward and you'll see for yourself!" she insisted.

"Trust her words and you will be there right away," Eiki assured the Smashers.

"Well, if that's what you said…" Fox said as he turned to face the volcano.

"Sounds like nonsense…" Snake commented. Nevertheless, he took a step forward with the rest of the Smashers. When they took a step forward, they were surprised to see the volcano moving very close to them in an instant, and after three steps, they found themselves right at the foot of it.

"What… the…?" Falco said in disbelief while looking at the top of it.

Link turned around and saw that the woods they came out from were very far in the distance already. "I don't believe it…"

"So theez eez what-a she meant-a by manipulating distance," Mario said.

"I think I'm going to believe everything I hear from now on, as long as it's not too ridiculous…" Snake commented.

"See? I told you that anything can happen in this world," Parry told him. "Or universe…"

"See? What did I tell you?" said a voice coming from behind, and the Smashers turned around to see Komachi, the person who spoke, and Eiki standing there. "Told ya that three steps are all it takes for you to get here!"

"How did you get here so fast?" Pikachu asked Komachi.

"The same way you guys got here," she replied.

"While you are rescuing the yukkuris from Pyronicus," Eiki told the Smashers, "I will go and talk to the ones I mentioned about my plan. I will contact you again after we have talked things out and after you are done with what you want to do."

"We'll gladly wait for your return, Judge Shiki," Fox said to her.

"We'll be taking our leave, then," Eiki said, and then bright light surrounded both her and Komachi. When the light disappeared, they were no longer in sight.

"I just thought of something…" Link said. "The way Eiki is dressed… It looks identical to that bodied yukkuri the judge brought along with him to the courtroom. Did you guys notice that?"

"Yeah! I noticed that!" Olimar said.

"I did notice that their faces look similar," Falco said.

"Wasn't really paying that much attention," Snake said.

"Now that-a you said-a eet, I think-a you're right-a!" Mario said. "They both indeed are dressed alike-a, and they even look-a alike-a! Hair color and all!"

"I also noticed something else. I saw a yukkuri in the books with the exact same hairstyle and hair color as Komachi!" Olimar added. "As if that wasn't enough, that yukkuri even has a scythe with it! Even if they are merely coincidences, I still find it very strange and eerie…"

"Let's not care about that for now, okay?" Snake said, not interested in the subject. "We've got a mission to do first."

The Smashers then looked at the top of the volcano, and Donkey said, "C'mon! Let's scale it!"

"You know? We could've asked Komachi to help us get to the top of the volcano in a short amount of time…" Falco said. "And why hadn't she thought of that herself either…?"

"Right…" Olimar agreed.

"There's got to be an easy way up there," Fox said. "Since Pyronicus lives here, he's got to have thought of some way to move between the top and bottom with ease. I can't imagine him climbing up and down by himself every single day… Even a mountaineer would find that tiring."

"You have a point," Link said with a nod. "Perhaps there's a secret entrance around the foot? Or maybe there's an elevator."

The Smashers started searching around the foot of the volcano, looking for anything that might help them reach the top with ease. Because of the size of the volcano, they didn't bother to move in a circle around it, though they did think of the possibility that a secret entrance might be hidden in a place that was too far to reach.

"Unless we have Sonic with us, I don't think any one of us here has the stamina, patience, or time to run in a circle around the volcano…" Snake said, looking to the side. "I doubt even Parry would want to fly around it…"

"Depends on how big the volcano is and how fast my max flying speed is," the parrot said.

Mario moved back and looked as high up as he could, and he could see something way at the top. "There really eez a building up-a there."

"I still find it hard to believe that someone would live on top of a volcano…" Luigi said as he walked to the same part as his brother to look at the building. "Just because it's a dormant volcano doesn't mean it'll never blow its top. It's way too dangerous living up there…"

"So what are we going to do?" Olimar asked. "Wait for Pyronicus to return and see how he makes his way to the top?"

"If we want to rescue the yukkuris, then the best time is to do so while he's gone," Snake said. "Waiting for him to return may make things harder. However, if there are already some other people up there, then it probably won't make a difference."

"Whether or not there are people in there right now, I think it's also safe to say that not all of us should go in there," Fox said. "It's hard to avoid being detected when there are lots of people traveling together. Sure, we can split into smaller groups, but with so many people sneaking around the building, it's still easy for security to catch us."

"Fox has a point," Snake said with a nod. "Therefore, we should decide who should go and who should stay. Since nobody here knows about stealth better than me, I'm obviously going. I think Donkey should come with us too, since we may have to move around boxes, cages, or whatever they use to contain yukkuris, and Donkey is the best person here for carrying large things."

"In case we need to get computers hacked in order to disable the security or find out more about the building, I'm definitely the man for the job," Fox said.

"Go ahead and count me in," Falco said. "Even if I don't serve a real purpose, I simply don't feel comfortable being left out."

"Like Falco, I don't feel comfortable being left out, so I'm going too," Link said.

"I think-a I'll go too," Mario said. "I can fight-a with fire, and I have da feeling that-a I may be of need in there."

"So that leaves the rest of us…" Luigi said. "Guess we'll be staying here and be on the lookout for anything."

"We'll contact you if we find out anything," Olimar said.

"Sounds good to me," Fox said with a nod.

Thinking that it would be better to wait for Pyronicus to return in order to find out how he would get to the top of the volcano, the Smashers got behind some large rocks to hide and wait. Luckily for them, the wait wasn't too long; Pyronicu's truck was seen approaching from over the horizon after about five minutes of waiting. "About time…" Falco said, sounding somewhat impatient.

The truck drove until it stopped right at the foot of the volcano, and the Smashers peeked out from their hiding places and waited for what would happen next. What happened next without doubt surprised them, as it was something they never ever thought of. Four columns of fire arranged vertically underneath the truck came out, slowly lifting the vehicle higher and higher into the air. As the flames became larger, the faster and higher the vehicle moved up, and the Smashers continued to look at it with dumbfounded expressions.

When the truck was finally at the same altitude as the building, flames came out from the former's exhaust pipe and caused it move towards the base, entering through an automatic door. The Smashers, who had came out from their hiding places when the truck was high up in the air, continued to stare at the part of the building the truck went into for several seconds, and then Snake said, "Okay… That's one creative way to scale a volcano, I think…"

"And that brings us back to the question of how we are going to get to the top…" Link said.

* * *

Yukkuris of various ages and species, all of them looking bored and sad, were scattered throughout a room with a rectangular-shaped hole that covered the entire length on one side. They had been locked up in this place for quite a while already. Workers wearing hazmat would occasionally come in to feed them something. However, they wanted to go outside, as the heat in this place was rather unbearable for them. In fact, some of the yukkuris had slight cracks on their body, showing how dried up they were from the heat.

A few of them did manage to sneak out of the room when a worker came in to feed them, but according to the same worker who came back into the room some time after that, they were quickly captured and tortured to death by fire. Hearing this made the yukkuris give up the idea of attempting to escape. They'd rather be locked up here than to get captured and then killed.

A voice suddenly broadcasted into the room, and the yukkuris looked up to see a rectangle-shaped window on the higher part of a wall. There, a person wearing a hazmat was seen, and he took off the part of his suit that was concealing his head, revealing himself to be an orange-browed man with orange hair shaped like a pile of fire—Pyronicus. "Hello there, yukkuris!" he said in a cheerful yet sinister-sounding voice. "Are you bored and dying for something exciting? Guess what? Now that I'm home, I've decided to have some fun with you all! Very hot fun, that is! Hahaha!"

He then pressed a button on the control panel in front of himself, and then the part of the wall underneath the window became covered in bright orange light and slowly moved forward. When the yukkuris felt the heat released from the wall, they immediately knew that the wall was dangerous to touch and that Pyronicus was actually going to abuse them.

The yukkuris cried as they bounced away from the incoming wall. Even when not near it, the sheer temperature of the heated wall was so hot they could feel it from afar. The yukkuris kept on running until they came to the front of the hole, and when they looked down it, they saw magma at the bottom. They were looking into the volcano itself.

The yukkuris turned around and watched with horrified expressions at the heated wall approaching. They looked around for a safe place, but like the hole, the wall covered the entire length of the room, so there was no place for them to hide. The only safe place was up in the air, but none of them had the ability to fly or jump that high, so it was hopeless.

Pyronicus laughed as he watched the yukkuris desperately trying to survive. The yukkuris lined themselves as close as they could along the edge without falling off, hoping that the wall would not reach all the way there. The closer the wall came toward them, the hotter they felt. Some yukkuris, no longer able to bear the heat, jumped down the hole and to their doom below first. Some yukkuris stood even farther off the edge, but some jumped off and then caught the side with their mouths, hoping that this would keep the wall from touching them.

All hope was lost when the wall completely covered every single spot for them to stand on. All the yukkuris, both those still on the edge and those holding onto the side of it with their mouths, were first scorched by the heated wall and then pushed down the hole, all of them screaming that they want to take it easy more. Their screams were silenced the moment they took a dip into the magma.

With all the yukkuris in the room gone, Pyronicus laughed at the top of the voice at the "hilarious" sight he just saw. "Hahahahahaha! Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

* * *

As there was no other way they could think of getting to the top, the Smashers who decided to go into the building had no choice but to scale the latter by themselves. Luckily, the way up wasn't that slanted, and there were many edges and rocks for them to hold onto, so climbing up was easier than they thought, especially for Donkey, who, being a gorilla, didn't have issues scaling things.

Falco looked down to see their progress. "We're not even halfway up there yet… At this rate, it'll probably take until evening or nighttime to reach there! The yukkuris are probably all dead by then!"

"If you have time to complain, keep climbing," Snake told him, not stopping even for a second.

Falco grumbled as he looked up and continued climbing, and then he looked at Link and Donkey, both of whom were the farthest up ahead. "Those two are plain cheating! Gorillas are naturally skilled climbers, and that Hylian is using the help of his double claw shot! Not fair!"

"Look, this isn't a climbing competition or anything, so everything's a fair play," Snake told him. "Plus, we need to get to the top fast as possible. If one of us can get to the top first, that's good." The anthropomorphic bird growled as he continued climbing, grumbling about the unfairness of life while doing so.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of flames coming from behind them, so they turned around and were surprised to see a truck hovering in the air. Olimar and Luigi were both seen inside it, and the latter stuck his head out of the window and said to them, "Hop in here! We're going to use this to get to the top!"

"Where'd that truck come from?!" Falco asked.

"Some time after you guys left, another truck came and saw us," the plumber in green replied. "Apparently, our appearances are known by pretty much everyone in the city by now, so he knows who we are. He was pretty hostile towards us, but then Diddy pounced onto him from above. Pichu then zapped him out of the commission. After dragging him out of the truck and hiding him behind a rock, we took the truck for ourselves."

"Well, pretty convenient, don't you think so?" Snake commented.

"Oh, and he was carrying lots of yukkuris in the back of the truck," Luigi added. "We freed them before hijacking the truck."

* * *

Once all the Smashers were inside the truck, the latter flew to the top of the volcano in a matter of seconds and hovered in front of the building, and obviously, that was when they got a better look at it. It resembled a factory built on top of a large panel that covered up the volcano's top entirely. "Pretty impressive to be able to build a structure like this on top of here," Olimar commented, and Luigi nodded in agreement. "Now how are we going to get inside?"

"Go near the door, perhaps," Luigi suggested. Olimar did as he said and moved the truck closer to the door, and the latter opened when it sensed the vehicle close to it. "Well, that was simple!"

The truck went inside and then touched the floor when Olimar turned off the flames. After Olimar turned off the engines, the rest of the Smashers got off from the back of the truck. "Good, we're in," Snake said.

"Not exactly like how it was planned, however," Fox said. "All of us are here now…"

Snake looked around the ceiling for security cameras, and when he saw one, it was turned to the side so that they didn't get caught on it. He quickly told the others to hide behind the truck, where the camera would not see them when it turns to them, and they did as told. After hiding behind the truck, Snake peeked out from behind it to look at the camera again. "Good thing there's no door over there; otherwise, it would be hard to get past that camera without getting caught," he said.

"I get what you mean," Pikachu said, looking at a door in front of them.

"They've even got a map there," Luigi pointed out. "Exactly what we need!"

The Smashers approached the map that was on the wall next to the door, and the ones who had cell phones and smartphones took a picture of the former for future use. "Okay, now that-a we have a map-a of theez place," Mario said, "what's-a our next-a move?"

"We better hide in the truck first before discussing things," Snake suggested. "You'll never know when someone comes through the door and sees us." The others agreed, so they quickly went into the back of the truck they hijacked.

Inside, they looked at the photo of the map they took. "They even marked out the various rooms for torturing yukkuris…" Olimar said while looking at the map.

"Target practice room… I think I may know what that is like…" Falco said.

"Anyway, like Fox said before," Snake said, "it's too dangerous for all of us to be traveling together, since there are way too many of us, so getting caught is very easy."

"So… it's all about splitting in smaller groups and reaching the same destination, right?" Link asked.

"I'm very sure that they have security measures here, so we must look for the room where they control the security first," Snake suggested. "According to the map, it's not very far from where we are."

"Falco and I will head there and turn off the security," Fox said.

"Okay, if you want to," Snake said with a nod. "Other than that, the only other room we should be going to is the yukkuri storage room. I'm not sure if it's really necessary to rescue the ones in the rooms where they are being abused. They may all already be dead for all we know."

"It wouldn't hurt to take a look, though," Olimar said.

"Those rooms should contain people, who are enjoying their time torturing the yukkuris, so I think it's impossible to avoid getting into conflicts with them if you really want to help the yukkuris there," Snake said. "We're supposed to avoid conflicts as much as possible. Anyway, if you really think it's safe to go in and rescue the yukkuris, then do so; otherwise, I think it's best to just forget about them. I'm not even sure if it's possible to rescue every single yukkuri here. Furthermore, if what the judge of the dead said is really possible, then the ones we failed to rescue will be transported out of this world and be freed from abuse in the end."

"Yeah, you have a point," the Hocotatian commented.

"I don't know how they keep the yukkuris here from running, but assuming that they are placed in cages, at least Donkey should be among the ones heading to the yukkuri storage room," Snake continued. "Some people will also have to stay here to ensure that we have a truck for getting out of here once we're done."

"I think I'll keep watch here, then," Luigi said, raising his hand. "I probably won't be of much help if I go in there anyway…"

"You have a point," Snake said with a nod. Hearing this, Luigi sighed, because what the cloned soldier said implied that he agreed that he indeed wouldn't be much help if he went along. "Pikachu and Parry will stay here with you too. I think Pichu and Jigglypuff will be of help. Pichu's excellent hearing may come in useful, and Jigglypuff's singing is without doubt useful for obvious reasons."

"Good reasoning!" Pichu commented.

"Jigglypuff will try her best!" the balloon Pokemon said.

Eventually, they came to a conclusion in their discussion. Snake, Donkey, Diddy, Link, and Pichu would head for the room where the yukkuris were stored. Fox and Falco would head for the security control room, and Mario, Olimar, and Jigglypuff would go to each of the torture rooms to see if there were yukkuris that needed rescuing. As said before, Luigi, Pikachu, and Parry would stay behind to look after the truck they were currently in.

"Okay, Falco and I will head for the security room first," Fox said as he and his partner started to leave the truck. "We'll call you after we're done disabling the security system." The others nodded.

After making sure that there was no one outside, the duo stepped out of the truck and headed for the door, which opened when they pressed a button next to it. Once in the hallway behind, they stayed close to the wall and looked around to make sure that it was safe to keep on moving. They noticed a security camera, but luckily, it was turned to the other side of the hallway, so they quickly down the other way, heading for security control room.

The door leading to the aforementioned room was down the hallway, not too many steps away from where they just came in from. Once they were inside, they saw a person seated in front of a computer that had several screens, each of them showing footages the various security cameras in the place were recording. Luckily for them, the person didn't notice them entering the room at all, so they tiptoed close to him. When close enough, Falco gave the person a swift and hard hand chop to the side of his neck, which instantly knocked him out.

There was a locker nearby, so Falco dragged him over there and locked him inside before returning to the computer, where Fox was seated in front of. "That was way too easy!" Falco said. "Honestly saying, I wouldn't mind getting into a bit of struggle with that guy. They really need to tighten up the security here."

"I'd rather not," Fox said while looking at the control panel. "We should be lucky that our mission ended up being easier than we thought. From the look of it, security really isn't that tight here. Guess they really don't have any intruders in this place that they didn't need to use tight security. If anything, the only thing they have to look out for is yukkuris trying to escape, but since they are easy to capture… You get the point… Still, I guess I should turn off the alarms made for detecting escaped yukkuris."

After he was done disabling the alarm, Fox contacted the other Smashers, and then the other side started to move out.

"So… what's next?" Falco asked.

"We'll just stay here and keep an eye on the screens to see if there is anything worth contacting our friends about," Fox replied. "Also, keep an eye on the door behind us. We don't want the people here coming in and spotting us."

"Right," Falco said as he went over to the door and stood next to it, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. "I'll make sure to silent anyone who isn't on our side if they come in here."

Fox looked at each of the screens, and he could see some abusing going on. One showed yukkuris somehow stuck onto targets, and abusers were shooting them with fire arrows. Another showed yukkuris suspended from the ceiling by ropes, and fire was burning their feet from below. Yet another showed yukkuris with burned feet moving along conveyor belts that dropped them into a vat a molten iron.

"This is terrible…" Fox said. "All these fire-related abuse… We really have to get the yukkuris out of here…"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I'll try my best to make the next chapter more exciting. Sorry for this lackluster chapter…

In case you didn't know yet, Pyronicus is the same guy who hosted the "yukkuris on a hot plate" bet in the Yukkuri Fun Fair.


	10. Uneasiness Due to the Fire

Sorry for the wait once again… I simply am not as motivated as I used to be when it comes to typing stories… Still, it's better than taking months or so to update or not updating at all, right? Still, I'll try my best to update within ten days.

As promised last time, this chapter would more exciting to make up for the previous lackluster one.

**Chapter 10  
Uneasiness Due to the Fire**

* * *

With the exception of Luigi, Pikachu, and Parry, the other Smashers came into the hallway Fox and Falco first entered, and they stopped at the doorway to make sure that there was no one. After being sure of this, they fully stepped out into the hallway, and Snake said, "Okay, we'll split up and head for the places we're supposed to go. Rely on the map you took a picture of for navigation, and try to keep in contact with each other as much as possible. Once you're done with what you're doing, meet back in the truck. We'll contact you when we should be leaving too."

"Yes sir!" Pichu said.

"Don't get caught, okay? If you do get seen by someone, make sure to knock him out, or else your presence will be known by everyone here," Snake added.

"Yes sir!" Pichu said again.

"Okay, if there is nothing else, let's move out! Make sure to do things properly, understand?"

"Yes sir!" Pichu said for the third time while saluting like a soldier.

With that, the Smashers split into two groups and headed in opposite directions. Snake, Donkey, Diddy, Link, and Pichu went together, while Mario, Olimar and his Pikmin, and Jigglypuff went together.

* * *

Snake's group carefully sneaked down the hallway in order to not catch the awareness of the people here, but luckily for them, there was nobody at all. "This place sure is the total opposite of crowded…" Diddy commented. "Not saying it's a bad thing, mind you."

"Well, it's on top of a volcano and cannot be accessed so easily," Link explained. "Plus, I think people with the right mind would probably never want to go into a building built right on top of a volcano anyway…"

Snake was looking at the map he had in his smartphone. "The quality isn't all that good, so it's a bit hard to tell what the pointers on the map are. However, I'm sure the yukkuri storage is in this direction."

Suddenly, Pichu said, "I hear sound coming in this direction! It's coming from around the corner up front!" So the Smashers immediately stopped moving and pressed themselves close to the wall. Donkey, while not hearing what Pichu said, did the same when he saw the others did this.

Still pressed against the wall, they slowly inched closer and closer to the corner, and then a marisa came jumping from around it in panic while crying for help. "After it! Don't let it get away!" shouted a voice from around the corner. Knowing what kind of person was going to show up next, Snake stuck out his leg and immediately caused one guy to fall forward when he hit it, and the second person behind to him fell on top of him when he hit him. "Ow! What the?!"

Before they could fully get back up, Donkey quickly grabbed both their heads and slammed them together to knock them out cold. Diddy gave him a thumb up afterwards. "Good going, Donkey!"

Link turned to the marisa, who was trembling while looking at the Smashers. He slowly crouched down in front of it and said, "Take it easy! We just saved you!"

The marisa, still looking afraid, slowly replied, "Take… Take it easy…"

"Don't worry; we are nice misters who are here to rescue you and your friends! You don't have to worry with us around here! You can trust us to get you all out of here and take it easy!" Link told it.

"Yeah! We're telling the truth!" Pichu, who ran up next to the marisa to pet her on the side, said.

"Really? Then marisa will believe in misters!" the yukkuri said, not looking scared anymore.

"Where did you run out from?" Snake asked the yukkuri. "Are there any other yukkuris in the room you were in? Can you take us there?"

"Marisa was taken out of a room with several other yukkuris to be abused by mean misters," marisa replied, "but marisa managed to escape by herself. Marisa still remembers which room she came out from! Marisa will take you there if misters want to!"

"Do so, then," Snake told it.

The marisa nodded and then took the lead, and the Smashers followed it.

* * *

Mario and Olimar peeked into the window of a door that had a sign writing "_Target Practice Room_" above it. They saw two people turning towards the door, so they quickly ran around a corner to hide. The two guys came out from the room, happily chatting with each about much fun they had just now, the kind of fun that involved shooting arrows at yukkuris.

After they were gone, Mario, Olimar and his Pikmin, and Jigglypuff went into the room. In there, they saw bows and arrows kept on one side of the room. On the other side were targets, most of them with yukkuris stuck onto them. Some were either still burning from getting hit by fire arrows, while some were already charred. The ones that were still being burned were most definitely dead, as they were no longer struggling or crying about getting burned. Underneath the targets was also a long pool of molten iron.

"Mamamia… I can't-a believe eet…" Mario commented when he saw the sights of the dead yukkuris.

"I can't believe that they take pleasure in this sort of thing…" Olimar said in a tone that hinted both sadness and anger. "I don't think any of the yukkuris here are still alive for us to rescue …"

"Over there!" Jigglypuff said, pointing to one of the targets. On it was a reimu, still alive and in one piece, impaled to it by a normal arrow through the part just underneath its mouth.

The Smashers ran over to the front of it, but the pool of molten iron kept them from going near it. "We have to do something to save it!" Olimar said. "As long as it is still breathing and not in a really bad condition, there is still hope in saving it with orange juice!"

"How are we going to help-a eet with theez pool of molten iron separating us?" Mario asked.

"I have an idea!" Olimar said, and then he whistled loudly to make his Pikmin arrange themselves into a line. They then fell forward and held each others legs to form a chain of sorts, and then Olimar picked it up by the last Pikmin's legs. "Behold the Pikmin Chain!" And he swung the makeshift chain at the yukkuri, and the Pikmin up front grabbed the arrow.

"Wait-a minute!" Mario quickly told him. "Eef you pull out da arrow, da yukkuri will instantly fall into da molten iron!"

"Oh yeah, how come I haven't thought of that…?" Olimar said, realizing that what he was going to do would most definitely cause the death of the yukkuri.

"Don't worry; Jigglypuff will save yukkuri! Olimar pull out the arrow! Jigglypuff will fly over to catch yukkuri!" Jigglypuff said.

"Are you sure you can do it?" Olimar asked her. "I fear that the momentum from catching it will cause you to fall into the molten iron."

"Don't worry; Jigglypuff will be all right!" the balloon Pokemon assured him. Seeing that the Pokemon was confident of herself, Olimar nodded, and so she puffed herself up and floated underneath the yukkuri. Olimar then yanked the Pikmin "chain" to pull out the arrow, and the yukkuri immediately fell onto Jigglypuff, who managed to catch it. The momentum did cause her to drop down a bit, but luckily, she floated back up without going near the molten iron. She quickly floated back to solid floor with the yukkuri before she ran out of breath. "Jiggly… Jigglypuff did it!"

Olimar looked at the yukkuri, who was looking at them with half-closed eyes, and said, "Simply feeding it orange juice or painting its wound with it won't do. This kind of wound requires a more proper way of treating using flour and water."

"But-a we don't-a have flour," Mario said.

"Yeah, that's the problem… I'm sure they have a kitchen here where they contain flour. They need a place here for making food, right?"

"That's-a true, but you can't guarantee that-a they have flour here…"

"It wouldn't hurt to take a look." Olimar then looked at the map on his smartphone. "According to this map, there is indeed a kitchen here. Looks like we'll have to run in, like, a circle to get to it, though…"

"Well, then let's-a go," Mario said. The Smashers stood up and headed for the exit, but suddenly, a person came in and spotted them.

"Hey! Who are you?!" he asked.

Acting fast, Jigglypuff started singing. Mario and the Pikmin closed their ears, while Olimar pressed a button on his suit to stop sound from going through his helmet. The person curiously watched the creature he had never seen before sing, and eventually, he felt himself becoming drowsy. Finally, he dropped to the floor and fell asleep. "Good-a job, Jigglypuff!" Mario said to the Pokemon.

"Jigglypuff did it again!" the Pokemon happily said.

Mario then dragged the person to the far side of the room and seated him against the corner before running out of the room with his comrades.

* * *

The marisa led Snake's group to the room where the rest of the yukkuris were being stored for future use. They walked up to the large door that had a pad of sorts next to it. While the others were looking at the door and wondering how to get it to open, Snake looked at the pad and said, "I believe this door will only open when it senses a handprint. Obviously, only the handprints of the people here will work."

"What will happen if we put our hands onto it?" Diddy asked.

"Set off the security, perhaps? It's best not to touch it, if that is really what will happen. What we can do is to knock out someone here and use his or her…" Before Snake could finish speaking, they heard the sound of the door opening. Acting fast, the Smashers ran to the side and pressed themselves against the wall as much as they could in hope of avoiding being seen.

A person pushing a cart that had several sounds coming from inside it came out, and shortly after he came out, Snake used a gun to fire a dart at his neck. The person cried and placed his hand at the part that got shot, and then almost immediately afterwards, he leaned forward onto the cart. The Smashers approached him, and Link asked Snaked, "Put him to sleep with a tranquilizer, didn't you?"

"What else do you think I did?" Snake replied.

When the Smashers opened the top of the cart and looked inside it, they saw yukkuris looking up at them. They had the marisa who led them here explain to the yukkuris that they were here to help them, and hearing this made them excited, but Snake told them to be quiet and stay inside so that they could be transported around easily.

Under Snake's command, Donkey carried the man who fell asleep to the pad next to the door and press his hand against it, and just like what Snake said, the door slid open. They all went inside and found themselves face to face with cages containing various kinds of yukkuris. "Looks like we really came to the right place!" Pichu said, stating the obvious.

"Looks like there really isn't as much yukkuris as we think there would be," Link said.

"Right," Snake with a nod, "and it's a good thing too. We won't have too much trouble trying to get them out of here."

The Smashers immediately went to unlock the cages. At first, the yukkuris were afraid, thinking that they were going to take them away to be tortured or killed, but when the marisa told them the truth, they believed. Luckily for the Smashers, there were other carts in the room, so they loaded the yukkuris into each of them until all the cages were empty. It only took four carts to empty all the cages.

"Good, things went smoothly and easily," Snake said. "C'mon, let's get out of here before someone comes in!"

The Smashers headed for the exit, leaving the person that was put to sleep in the room. However, another person showed up at the door when they were about to leave through it. "Hey! Who are you people?" he asked. Snake immediately took out his tranquilizer and shot him in the shoulder, putting him to sleep. With that person out of the way, the Smashers ran out of the room, but they were immediately spotted by three other people from behind.

"Hey! Who are you?!" one of them shouted, but all them were immediately silenced by Snake's tranquilizer.

"You sure act fast!" Link commented.

"Acting fast is a vital part of stealth," Snake explained. "I only have one shot left, however…"

"Guess we have no choice but knock them out cold using the violent way after that, eh?" Link said.

* * *

Meanwhile, Mario's side was at the kitchen, which they managed to get to without running into anyone. Luckily for them, there was nobody in the kitchen as well, so Olimar immediately got busy looking for flour, which wasn't too hard for him to find.

By combining it with water, he was able to seal up the reimu's wound. After being fed orange juice, the yukkuri returned to good health and said to him in a cheerful voice, "Thank you very much, kind mister! Reimu can now take it easy!"

"That's good to know!" Olimar said.

"Okay, now that-a we managed to heal eet, we betta get-a outta here before someone comes in," Mario suggested. Olimar nodded, but when they turned to the exit, they saw Pyronicus standing at the doorway. "Uh oh…"

"So the inhabitants from another dimension, or so you claim, came here, eh?" Pyronicus said. "And I see that you have just treated a yukkuri you found somewhere here. Very bold of you to come all the way here to rescue the yukkuris, eh?"

"Isn't he same guy from the Yukkuri Fun Fair?" Olimar pointed out. "The same guy who was in charge of the bet involving yukkuris being thrown onto a hot plate!"

"Eet really eez him!" Mario said. "So you're Pyronicus?"

Two guys appeared next to Pyronicus, both of them glaring at the Smashers. "I can consider letting you go without telling the authorities if you are willing to hand over that yukkuri and leave behind any that you rescued, assuming that you did rescue them already," Pyronicus said to the Smashers. "Be careful if you refuse to comply, because I'm not the kind of person who thinks twice before doing something that is considered unacceptable or going too far."

"This guy… I can tell that he's serious…" Olimar said. "What do we…? Oh yeah, Jigglypuff! Put them to sleep with your song at once!"

"Jigglypuff will sing now!" the balloon Pokemon said, but right when she was about to sing, Pyronicus kicked her to the back of the room. "JIGG!"

"Jigglypuff!" Mario gasped as he watched the Pokemon fly away, and then he ran after her.

"Guess you slipped the tongue and failed to pull off your secret weapon effectively, eh?" Pyronicus said to Olimar. "That could've worked if you hadn't brought that up."

"Yeah, my bad…" Olimar said, regretting having said that just now.

"Again, hand over that yukkuri and then get out of my clubhouse at once! People who are not interested in abusing yukkuris are not welcome here, especially if they are not interested in using fire to abuse them!" Pyronicus angrily told them.

"No! We will not-a allow you to abuse theez yukkuris any longa!" Mario said as he came back with a knocked out Jigglypuff in his hands. "Do what-a-eva you want-a! We are willing to fight-a back if we have no choice! Plus, we are not-a da only ones here! Even as we are speaking, our friends are on their way to rescue da otha yukkuris!"

"So there are more of you here, eh? Too bad the security must've taken notice of them by now," Pyronicus said. "No way are they going to make it to where the yukkuri storeroom or get them out of there!"

"If you haven't noticed yet, two of our friends have already taken over the security control room," Olimar told him.

Pyronicus became surprised when he heard this, and he told one of the men next to him to go and check things out and also to warn the others. While he was saying this, Mario gave him a left hook to the face. The Smashers immediately ran out of the kitchen, pushing aside both the other guys before making a run down the hallway. "Get them!" Pyronicus shouted as he got up while rubbing his face. "Warn the others too! We must keep those people from getting out of here with any of the yukkuris!"

* * *

Snake's group was on their way back to the parking lot when Snake himself suddenly received a phone call. "Hello?" he answered through his smartphone. "That you, Mario? What?! Pyronicus himself saw you guys?! Great… Okay, I know. We'll be careful!" And he ended the call.

"What happened?" Link asked, and then everyone came to a stop when they saw several people armed with guns appearing in front of them and blocking their way forward. "Uh oh…"

"That's what happened," Snake replied.

"So they found out about us, right?" Diddy asked.

"You shall not take those yukkuris out of here!" one of the people said. "Leave them behind, or else we will burn you all!"

"What do we do?" Pichu desperately asked.

"This!" Snake shouted as he took threw a grenade. When those people saw it, they screamed and jumped to the sides, and then Snake told the others to move forward. After the Smashers were gone, those people looked at the grenade after seeing that it never exploded and realized that the pin wasn't pulled out.

"Darn it! We've been had!" one of them angrily said. "After them!" And they gave chase.

* * *

Mario's group ran into a large room where they saw yukkuris being abused in various ways, and the people there turned their heads to them. The Smashers saw crying yukkuris with burned feet being sent inside a large machine via a conveyor belt, and they came back out from the other side, charred and stripped of their hair and accessories. They were then packaged into boxes and then taken away on carts.

There was another conveyor belt that sent yukkuris into a large vat of molten iron, and at another side of the room, yukkuris were hanging from the ceiling via hooks, and fire was burning them from below.

"Oh my god…" Olimar commented, not believing the forms of abuses he saw.

Some people armed with guns appeared in the same room from behind the Smashers, and one of them said out loud, "Stop those people! They're trying to escape with the yukkuris!"

Mario and Olimar ran forward, but they quickly found themselves surrounded. "What do we do?!" Olimar asked.

"Can't-a your Pik-a-min do something?" Mario asked Olimar. "Make-a more of them!"

"Um… I hate to say this… but… I didn't bring any Pikmin seeds with me…" Olimar nervously replied. "I left them in my luggage back in our world, so these five Pikmin are all I have now, and I doubt this amount can do anything to these people…"

"Mamamia…"

Pyronicus then showed up in the room and said to the Smashers, "This is the end of the line for you! You can't escape any longer!"

"What do we do now…?" Olimar asked.

"I can contact-a da othas, but I don't think-a I can do eet so easily with all theez people around-a uz…" Mario said.

Soon after he said this, Snake's group came running into the room, getting chased by the ones who spotted them previously. "Hey look! It's Mario, Olimar, and Jigglypuff!" Diddy pointed out.

"Looks like they're in a pinch as well," Link said, and then he looked all around the room. "Whoa… Looks like we've reached the mother of the abusing around here…"

Pyronicus's men surrounded Snake's group, and then they forced all the Smashers to move close to each other. "Other than the ones in the security control room, that's all of you here, right?" Pyronicus asked. "Your friends in that room are being taken care of at the moment, so they will join you here very soon!"

"I wouldn't count on them to be taken out so easily," Snake said.

"Why are you doing this?" Olimar asked Pyronicus. "You built this place and made all these just to abuse yukkuris?! This is taken things to the extreme! What profit is there in doing all this?"

"Yeah! And building your house on top of a volcano too!" Pichu asked. "This is asking for a death wish! You'll never know when this volcano will blow its top!"

"Rest assure that this volcano will not blow its top," Pyronicus told him. "I have hired experts to examine this volcano several times already, and they are one-hundred percent sure that it is completely dormant. And why would I build my house on top of a volcano? Because it's awesome, that's why!"

"You're crazy!" Link said. "You're nothing but a pyromaniac who likes to take things to the extreme! You might as well set an entire forest on fire just to kill yukkuris!"

"That is something I wish to do!" Pyronicus told him. "If it weren't for nature lovers keeping me from doing so, that is…"

"This guy seriously is a pyromaniac…" Snake commented.

"You people sure have the guts to break into my clubhouse!" Pyronicus said to them. "Not only are you interrupting my fun time, but you're also interrupting the fun time of the people here! As I said earlier, this is a clubhouse, one made for people who enjoy abusing yukkuris with fire! The people you see here are either hired to work for me and maintain this place or club members who came here to kill time and have fun with fire-related abusing. Don't you feel ashamed of yourselves for ruining the fun of so many people?"

"I would-a gladly ruin da fun of several people eef eetz for da sake-a of saving lives!" Mario angrily replied.

"Oh? You people have no moral, do you? Let me tell you what: I'm also making business with this place." Pyronicus told the Smashers, and then he looked at the yukkuris that were being sent into the machine and coming out of the other side charred. "See those yukkuris? We are making grilled yukkuris to be sold at the market. People love the taste of grilled yukkuris, and I earn lots of money a month from selling them! I'm sure you'll definitely understand why they help you earn a lot after you've tried them yourselves! Want to try one?"

"Biting off and chewing your finger would be more enjoyable!" Pichu angrily said.

"Then what's the point of those?" Olimar asked, pointing to the yukkuris that were being burned to death and the ones being dropped into the vat of molten iron.

"Those are purely abuse, nothing else," Pyronicus replied. "Isn't it fun hearing them screaming as they move closer and closer to the end of the conveyor belt and when their feet are getting burned constantly? Hahaha!"

Hearing this made Olimar really angrily, and he loudly said, "You're crazy! You're a madman! A spiteful madman who must be taught a lesson! I have enough of this madness already! I have never been so angry in my life! I will no longer tolerate this!"

"Whoa! This is the first time I've seen him so angry!" Donkey commented.

"Me too!" Link said.

"Even if I destroy this whole place and cause the deaths of you vermin, I WILL!" Olimar shouted as he picked up the purple Pikmin and flung it at Pyronicus, hitting him in the abdomen. Immediately after that, he flung the other colored Pikmin at him, and they grabbed onto him and pummeled him rapidly.

"Gah! Get them off me!" Pyronicus cried as he shook around. Suddenly, Olimar ran and hurled himself onto him, pinned him to the floor, and punched him in the face over and over.

One of Pyronicus's men went over to pull away Olimar, but Donkey ran at the former and punched him away. "Might as well!" the gorilla said.

"Stop at once! Or we'll shoot!" another one of Pyronicus's men said, but Link threw a boomerang at his head. "Ow!"

The Hylian caught the returning boomerang and said, "Now that Olimar and Donkey are on the loose, why should we hold back any longer? If this is the only way we can get out of here now, then we have no choice!"

Snake sighed and then said, "Guess you're right… Somehow, I knew we weren't going to get out of here without a fight…"

Electricity came out from Pichu's cheeks as the Pokemon showed an angry and smiling face. "I like this way better!"

And so, the Smashers started fighting people around them. The men used flamethrowers, but the Smashers were able to evade their attacks with little effort and then knock them out. While the fighting was going on, Fox and Falco came into the room. "What's happening here?!" Fox said, surprised at the sight of the chaos.

"They've started the party without us!" Falco said. "I'm not going to be left behind!" Then he ran into the scene of the fighting, despite Fox telling him not to make things worse.

During the midst of the chaos, Falco noticed oil drums placed at the side of the room, and a grin appeared on his face before he ran over to them and picked up one. "Hey, let this be a lesson to you guys!" he said out loud as he faced the scene of fighting. "Never put oil drums in places of heated battles!" Then he rolled the oil drum in that direction and pointed his gun at it, but he purposely didn't pull the trigger right away.

When everyone else saw him pointing the gun at the oil drum, they knew what he was going to do and so ran away in panic, and that was when Falco fired a beam at the oil to cause it to explode.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"Falco! What on earth are you doing?! We're not trying to make things worse than it already is!" Snake shouted at him.

"I figured that this might end things faster," the bird replied, not feeling wrong about what he did.

Olimar saw the grilling machine and that there were no more yukkuris on its conveyor belt. An idea came to him, and then he ran to the oil drums and started moving one of them in its direction. Falco asked what he was doing, and he replied, "I'm going to destroy that machine! Such a thing must not exist! In fact, this place shouldn't exist at all! If possible, I'm going to wreck up this whole place to some extent and render it unlivable!"

"I like your way of thinking!" Falco said with a smile, and then he knocked down the remaining oil drums and pushed them with his foot to send them rolling in the direction of the machine. Olimar rolled the oil drum he was moving in its direction too. Falco then aimed his gun at the oil drums when some of them were close to the machine. "Stand back, everyone! We're going to have another huge explosion coming up!"

Pyronicus saw this and shouted, "No! Stop! DON'T!" But the bird fired at one of the oil drums and set off a chain explosion that eventually engulfed the machine.

KABOOOOOOOOOOM! BAAAAAAAAAAAANG! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

People ran away screaming as pieces of the machine and burning oil drums flew all over the place. When the burning oil drums hit the floor, they exploded. Because several oil drums hit the floor, the explosions caused parts of the floor to become unstable, and holes appeared as well. The force of the explosion also caused some of the people to go flying, and the carts containing the yukkuris fell over, causing the yukkuris inside to fall out.

"Darn it!" Snake angrily said as he and some of the other Smashers hurriedly put them back into the carts.

"I seriously don't know if they're trying to help or make things worse anymore!" Fox said while picking up the yukkuris.

"Let's just get out of here now! There's no more point in staying and fighting anymore!" Snake said. "This place may soon fall apart because of what happened just now!"

Pyronicus glared at Falco and Olimar and shouted, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! YOU'VE RUINED THIS PLACE!"

"And that is exactly what this place deserves!" Olimar shouted back.

"Why you?!" Pyronicus angrily said as he aimed his gun at them and fired a large stream of fire, but they quickly got away.

"Falco! Olima!" Mario shouted at the two. "Theez eez enough! You've done enough damage here already! We have to get outta here now!"

"Not until we've taught this guy a lesson first!" Falco replied.

"No! Just-a stop-a eet!" Mario said. "We've promised not to take lives and also to avoid-a conflicts as much-a as possible, but we've ended up causing a lot of da latta already! Theez eez as far as we go, so stop-a eet already! Olima, I know that-a you're very angry, but-a you cannot let-a rage get da best-a of you! By wanting to make theez people suffer for abusing da yukkuris, you are making yourself no betta than them! Do you want-a to become like-a those people?"

Hearing this, Olimar realized his mistake. "You're right… I really did let rage get the best of me… I… What have I done…?"

"Don't-a worry; I can undastand-a. Anyway, let's-a get outta here now!"

But Falco protested. "No way! I haven't had enough…" Before he could finish speaking, he was shot in the neck and then fell to the floor shortly afterwards.

Olimar and Mario turned to Snake, who had his tranquilizer pointed at the bird. "That's the only way I could think of," he replied.

"I couldn't agree any better," Fox, who was standing next to him, said with a nod.

"None of you are getting out of here!" Pyronicus angrily said. "Men! Surround them at once!" But he noticed that none of his men were in the room anymore. "Hey! Where did everybody go?!"

"All of them ran away after the machine blew up," Fox said as he picked up Falco by his shoulder. "If you know what's good for you, then you better get out of here too!"

"Never! This is my house, so I'm not getting out of here!" Pyronicus angrily said. "You people will pay with your lives for making a huge mess out of this place!"

"This guy doesn't know when to quit, does he?" Snake said.

"You guys go first-a!" Mario said to his friends. "I'll hold-a him off and then catch up with you lata!"

"What are you going to do to him?" Olimar asked the Italian plumber.

"Knock-a him outta and then drag-a him back to da truck," he replied. "Anyway, da safety of da yukkuris are very important, so go first-a!"

"If that's what Mario wants, then let's go," Snake said. "I'm sure this place won't fall apart that fast."

"Be careful, Mario!" Fox said before heading for the exit with the others.

With the other Smashers and the yukkuris they rescued gone, Mario turned to Pyronicus and said to him, "Give eet up-a! Your men has evacuated already! Theez place eez no longer suitable for people to stay in! Just-a come with uz quietly, okay?"

"In the very least, I'm going to make sure that this place is your grave first!" Pyronicus angrily said before firing at him. "Burn to ashes!"

Mario performed an amazing somersault jump into the air to avoid the fire, and he fell in Pyronicus's direction and stomped him in the head. He landed in front of him and then punched him a few times in the face, each hit making him take steps back. Mario then attacked with a palm thrust that created a burst of fire that caused him to fly back, but he was horrified when Pyronicus went flying in the direction of a hole. "Oh no!"

Pyronicus stopped just in front of the hole and flailed his arm as he tried to balance himself, but he failed to do so. Luckily, he managed to grab onto the edge with one hand, and when he looked down, he saw magma. He was looking into the volcano itself.

Mario ran up to him and caught his hand. "Grab-a hold of me!" With all his strength, he pulled Pyronicus back up. After pulling Pyronicus up, the part of the floor underneath Mario suddenly broke, and the plumber fell. He managed to grab onto the edge with both hands, however. "Whoa!"

Pyronicus backed away from him, pointed at him, and laughed. "Hahaha! Looks like the tables have been turned! Perhaps it was better that you just let me drop to my doom below! You could've saved your own life if you had let that happen!"

Mario managed to pull himself back up easily, but he didn't come back up entirely. "I helped you! Eez that-a how you should be repaying me?!"

"You think doing that can make up for all the troubles you brought me?" Pyronicus asked, and then they heard the sound of crying coming from nearby. They turned to the source of the sound and saw a koreimu.

"It's hot!" the koreimu cried. "Weimu wants mommy! Waaaaaaah!"

"One of da yukkuris must-a been left-a behind when they fell off da cart-a earlier!" Mario thought.

Pyronicus went over to the koreimu, picked it up, raised it into the air, and held it tightly, making it feel pain. "Can't… chake it eajy… like this…" it said.

"No! Don't-a kill eet!" Mario shouted at Pyronicus.

"You want to rescue this piece of trash, don't you?" Pyronicus asked him. "You're just wasting your time rescuing lowlifes like them! They don't deserve you rescuing them! Yukkuris are lowlifes whose sole existence is to be tortured to death by everyone!"

"All life deserves respect-a! You have no right-a to abuse them!" Mario shouted back.

"Correction: all life except yukkuris has the right to live! Yukkuris have no right to live in peace! Like I said before, their only purpose in life is to get killed by everyone! Yukkuris do not show gratitude! They trash talk to us, think highly of themselves, and vandalize properties! People who think yukkuris deserve justice and peace are deluded and out of their minds, like you and your friends! By coming here and rescuing the yukkuris and wrecking this place, you have broken the law of not interfering with abusers!" Pyronicus said.

"Such-a law must not-a exist!" Mario said as he got back onto to the floor and on his feet. "Da president-a may be right-a that-a eet brings safety to da citizens, but there eez no worth in eet eef life eez still lost, even eef eet eez da life of yukkuris! Eetz people like-a you that-a PETY exists!"

"No! It's people like you that PETY exists! Had you yukkuri lovers left us alone in the first place, then this law would've never existed, and PETY would never exist as well! If you had just left us alone, everyone would be able to live in peace! Yukkuri lovers like you are the blame to the world's problems!"

"None of theez would-a happen in da first-a place eef you didn't abuse yukkuris!"

"Enough! There's no point in talking to you about this! You wrecked my house and stole my yukkuris! You want to rescue all the yukkuris, right? Well, then I might as well kill this one right here and right now! Hahaha!" Pyronicus began to squeeze the life out of the koyukkuri, and Mario was going to make a move when suddenly the part of the floor underneath the former shook.

That part suddenly fell, taking Pyronicus along with it, and the koreimu flew out of his hand and right into Mario's. Mario quickly ran over to the hole and looked down it, watching Pyronicus screaming with his arms raised into the air as he fell towards the magma below. "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Mamamia…" Mario said in horror, keeping his eyes on him till the end. He closed his eyes and felt grief for the life that was just lost. As the place was slowly collapsing, he quickly stood back up and ran for the parking lot with the crying koreimu in hands.

When he got to the parking lot, he saw only two trucks, whereas there were a lot more when they first came. "What-a happened here?" he wondered.

Luigi stuck his head out from one of the trucks and said to him, "Good! You're here, Mario! We have to get out of here now! All or most of Pyronicus's men have escaped using the trucks already! Good thing we managed to save two trucks for ourselves!"

Snake stuck his head out from the second truck and asked, "Where's Pyronicus?" Then he saw Mario lowering his head and slowly shaking it. "Okay… I guess something unfortunate happened to him… Anyway, get onboard! You can share with us what happened after we're out of here!"

Mario nodded, and then he boarded the back of Luigi's truck, which was carrying some of the other Smashers. After that, the trucks approached the door, which automatically slid open, and flew outside.

As the truck was flying farther and farther from Pyronicus's clubhouse, Fox, who was sitting next to Snake, looked out the window and at the building. "Judging from Mario's response," he said, "guess we weren't able to resolve things in a more… satisfying way…"

"Some things are unavoidable, I guess," Snake said.

Fox sighed as he unrolled the window, and both the trucks flew towards a hill in the distance.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Due to the death of an abuser, I'm can foresee this chapter being controversial among the yukkuri fandom…

The ending looks a bit abrupt in my opinion. I originally wanted to end it with Snake or Fox saying something, but what I wanted Snake to say may offend some people a bit, so I scratched that idea and ended this chapter this way instead.

Anyway, hope this chapter made up for the previous one!

God bless you all!

**Trivia:  
**1. This chapter's title is named after Luna Child's theme, Sleepless Due to the Night. There are various ways to translate her theme, mind you, so there's no accurate translation for it…


	11. Plan It Easy

In case some people are curious as to why grim reapers being called "death gods" in Chinese has any relevance to the former term being an accurate translation for "shinigami", that's because "shinigami" literally translates in "death god" as well.

**Chapter 11  
Plan It Easy**

* * *

News of what happened at Pyronicus's clubhouse for fire-related yukkuri abuse had spread throughout the city, courtesy of the people who escaped from the former when the Smashers went there to rescue the yukkuris. What the Smashers did became a huge talk among other people. To abusers, this was an outrageous act, but for people were against abuse, they were glad that there were people who were willing to stand up to this, but some questioned whether or not the Smashers were doing things the right way.

Needless to say, Arnold was filled with rage at what he just read on the newspaper. Slamming it onto his desk, he stood up and said in a loud voice while pointing his hand at the newspaper, "Those accursed outsiders! They're trying to get on our bad side, aren't they?! I'd thought they would no longer be a problem after they've been marked as dangerous people who should be captured, but then they just had to go and do something like this!"

He angrily pressed the button on his desk to make a komarisa appear, and then he smashed it with a folder containing several documents right when it was about to tell him to take it easy.

SMASH!

"They're a fun bunch, aren't they?" said a man with flat-top haircut who was seated in the room's sofa. "And I thought that bird beating the lights out of me was the best they had to offer! Hohoho! Looks like they're capable of more! I look forward to what sort of mischief they will continue cause!"

Arnold looked at him and said, "And you're out of your mind! Who in the right mind would allow himself to be beaten up by an anti-abuser? You have the right to fight back! They're in the wrong here, so there's nothing wrong if you get back at them!"

"Oh, you don't have to be angry about that," the man—Rupert—said as he stood up and went to the golf bag placed near the door and took a golf club from it. He then reached into the pouch and took out a koyukkuri that had its accessories completely removed and all its facial features sealed up, thus making it look like a ball of flour. Its feet were also burned. "I simply wanted to know how far they were willing to go! A bit of beating is nothing to me at all! It's not like they can convince me to change! You know the kind of person I am: I like to abuse yukkuris as much as you!"

He placed the koyukkuri onto a putting green and then positioned himself to get ready to hit the former. "Yukkuri abuse is, like, the most fun thing ever!" he said while keeping his eyes on the koyukkuri. "It's not like a bit of beating and threatening is going to stop me! In fact, I'd rather give up my life than to give up yukkuri abuse!" As the koyukkuri was trying to escape by squirming, Rupert hit it and sent it rolling across the green, and it went into the hole.

After the koyukkuri rolled out of opening at the side, he picked it and tossed it up and down in his hand. "If it were me, I'd let those outsiders continue their antics for a little while longer. What they are doing will eventually bring more and more rage to the public, and it's not long before everyone out there goes after them! By then, we'll be able to see the looks of horror on those outsiders, and they're regret ever trying to interfere with things in our world! Heeheehee!"

"I'd rather do something to put them out of my sight once and for all immediately!" Arnold said. "Those people are going too far for their own good already! Who knows what sort of trouble they're going to come up with? If I ever hear from them again, I'm going to show no mercy towards them! None at all!"

"That's not a bad idea too! As long I get entertained by what I see, I'm also with ya!" Rupert said as he opened the window. "By the way, do you mind?"

"Go ahead. I can get new golf balls whenever I want to with ease," Arnold told him.

Rupert giggled as he went over to a tee and placed the koyukkuri on it. He then raised his golf club and swung at the squirming koyukkuri hard to send it shooting out of the window and into distance. "Fore! Hahahahahaha!"

* * *

In a clearing that was surrounded by a fence, several yukkuris were seen scattered throughout the place, snoozing quietly. At one side of the clearing, close to the fence, two figures were seen there, one sitting in a cross-legged position and the other curled up like a sleeping animal. The former was a woman with nine fox tails, while the latter was a young girl with cat ears and tails that came in two.

Set up among the sleeping yukkuris were some tents, each of them quartering the Smashers. Inside one of the tents, Fox was searching up things on a computer laptop, while Falco was lying down within a sleeping bag behind him. The latter turned to him and asked, "You found anything?"

"A lot," Fox replied. "The factory even has its own official site, so gathering information on it is way too easy. Most importantly, I found a map of the entire place, so we should have no problem traveling through it tomorrow."

"Can't wait to get busy tomorrow!" Falco said with enthusiasms. "Tomorrow can't come any sooner!"

* * *

_FLASHBACK_

The Smashers landed the truck on the very same hill they arrived on when they first came to this world. They stepped out from the vehicles and went over to open the back of one of them to reveal four carts inside. "All right," Snake said, "time to open them and let loose the yukkuris."

The Smashers helped each other take out the carts, and then Link opened one of them and was greeted with the eyes of several yukkuris looking up at him and asking if they could come out yet. "Okay," the Hylian replied. "We'll get you out now!" His reply resulted in cheers from the living buns.

Just as the Smashers were going to take out the yukkuris, someone said to them, "I see that you managed to successfully rescue the yukkuris from Pyronicus's place." The Smashers turned around and saw Eiki.

"Oh, you're back-a!" Mario said. "How did da discussion go with da othas?"

"The first person I contacted is Master Hand," she replied. "He understands your situation, but he still needs a week to completely finish the dimension-hopping machine. Once it is done, he is more than willing to help you take all the yukkuris out of this world."

"Good to see that things are going pretty smoothly," Snake said. "How about the ones from Gen… Gensokyo, right? Did you talk to the people there?"

"I only talked to one of them, but she is without doubt the most important person for this plan," Eiki replied. "Right now, she should be talking with two of the top scientists in Gensokyo regarding this. We should wait for them to call back first."

"How long is this going to take?" Link asked.

"It shouldn't take long. I'm sure we can expect them before the end of the day."

"By da way," Mario said to Shiki, "we tried-a our best to not get-a into conflict, but…"

"Yes, I know exactly what happened. You don't have to explain to me everything," Eiki said to him. "Some things are unavoidable, and it is not your fault that Pyronicus died. You tried to help him too, so you do not have to blame yourself for this."

"So… are you going to share with us the details of your plan?" Snake asked. "It's about time you spill the beans."

"Much as I wish to tell you what my plan is," Eiki said, "it all boils down to what idea Master Hand and the others manage to come up with. However, I do highly recommend that you keep the yukkuris you've rescued with you first and not set them free just yet. I foresee that we need to use them in the future."

"Keep the yukkuris with us?" Olimar asked. "I have no problem with that, but I'm sure they want to have a more spacious space than the carts…"

"That can be easily resolved," Eiki told him. "Just build a ranch of sorts for them. Not too far into the woods in front of you is a large clearing suitable for building fences to keep them confined."

Olimar looked at the woods and said, "Wow! You sure know a lot of things! I guess that's because you're the judge of afterlife that you know several things we don't."

"You have to know many things if you're in this position," Eiki told him.

* * *

No sooner after she told them about this, the Smashers went into the woods and found a large clearing, just like she said. They let the yukkuris out of the carts and told them not to leave the clearings while they build fences. Because the yukkuris were grateful for being rescued, they happily obeyed the Smashers. They all frolicked around in the clearing; not one of them went into the woods.

"Okay, now that we are planning to build fences to keep the yukkuris from running out of here," Snake said, "I just realized that we don't have the tools for getting the job done… at all…"

"You're right…" Link said. "We can't cut down trees or do anything without some tools… Yes, I have my sword with me, but you can't expect me to do everything myself, do you?"

"On the bright side, these yukkuris don't seem to have the intention of leaving this place," Olimar said. "Still, I do agree that it's best to make something that can confine them here. You'll never know if one of them forgets or unknowingly run out…"

Mario turned to Eiki and asked her, "Do you know what-a to do?"

Just as she was going to reply, a hole suddenly appeared in the air next to her, much to Smashers' surprise. Inside the hole, they could see a purple background that was dotted with several eerie-looking eyes, but what caught their attention the most was the fact that a blond purple-dressed woman coming out of it. "What in the world?!" Snake said in surprise.

"She's here," Eiki said. "The person I told you about that is the most important part of our plan."

The woman came out and looked at the sky while shielding her eyes with her hand. "Nice weather we have here, eh? Hard to think that this is a place where terrible stuff is happening…"

"Yukari," Eiki said to the woman, "I suppose that you have talked to Rikako and Nitori about what I told you, right?"

"Yes I did," the woman named Yukari said while opening her fan and cooling herself with it. "I also went to find Master Hand, telling him the same thing you told me to tell them."

"You went to see Master Hand too?" Link asked.

Yukari turned her eyes to the Smashers and said, "So you people are the Smashers. I've heard a lot about you guys back in our own world. You people really did make a big name for yourselves! Saving the world several times and even getting on the bad side of the government."

"It's their fault for messing with our friend and wanting to use a terrifying weapon capable of destroying the world for world peace," Snake told her. "We were only doing what we think is right."

"Justice is a funny thing, don't you think so?" Yukari asked. "It's something that is supposed to be universally agreed on. Yet, you will find people debating on what things are considered justice and what are not. Some people may have their own justice that is considered unethical by others. It's one thing that people have a hard time coming to an agreement on, just like the yukkuri abuse that is going on in this world. You will find people defending their abusive actions as being justified, but some sees such actions as nothing but an excuse to vent out anger or simply to have fun."

"I can't agree any better than that…" Fox said with a nod.

"So… what's your plan?" Falco asked her. "The judge said you are the most important person for this plan. What exactly makes you so important? You got some unique superpower that can help make our plan a success?"

"Superpower? More like powers that I naturally have as the demon of boundaries," Yukari replied. "You see how I appeared before your eyes just now? My power is to create gaps that allow access to pretty much anywhere I can imagine. I think that should give you an idea of why the judge said I'm the most important person for this plan."

"Creating gaps that allow people to gain access to almost anywhere in the universe?" Pikachu said. "I can definitely see why you're important for this plan now…"

"But even with my powers, transporting all the yukkuris out of this world is too hard and time consuming," Yukari said. "Because of this, extra help is required in order for this to succeed in a short amount of time."

"Which was why I asked her to go and acquire the help of Gensokyo's top scientists," Eiki said. "Since Master Hand created a machine capable of traveling to other dimensions, I believe he is able to help us in this matter as well."

"So… why don't we call them over and see what they managed to come up with?" Yukari suggested. She then pointed her hand to one side to make a gap appear, and then she did the same to the other side, but this one was much larger.

Two girls came out from one of the gaps. The first was an eyeglass-wearing girl with long purple hair and dressed in a lab coat, while the second one was a blue-haired girl wearing a lighter blue dress that had several pockets. Master Hand came out of the larger gap and said, "Well, this ability sure is something! Much better than the machine I created!" The Smashers were happy when they saw their superior. "Hey guys! Nice to see you again! Is everything all right?"

"Would you be coming here if everything really is all right?" Falco asked him.

"Yeah… I know what your problem is. I just wanted to know how you are yourselves, not the situation," the Hand told him.

The Smashers then turned to the two girls, and Eiki said, "These are the two top scientists from Gensokyo I talked about."

The blue-haired girl, shortly after stepping out of the gap, quickly hid behind the purple-haired girl and peeked out with a red face. The purple-haired girl adjusted her eyeglasses and said, "I'm Rikako Asakura."

The blue-haired girl said in a rather soft voice, "He… Hello… I'm Nitori Kawashiro… It's a pleasure… to meet you…"

"She's a bit shy when talking to humans she's unfamiliar with," Rikako explained. "She'll get used to it eventually."

"Talking to humans she's unfamiliar with?" Fox curiously said. "Does that mean she's not human?"

"Right… I'm a kappa…" Nitori replied. "And are you a kitsune?"

"Nah, I'm just an anthropomorphic fox," Fox told her.

"You don't have to be afraid of us," Link told her. "Not all of us here are humans. I'm a Hylian."

"So… have you girls thought of anything?" Yukari asked Rikako and Nitori.

"Honestly saying, what the judge came up with is pretty much an impossible task if it were to be accomplished by the both of us alone," Rikako replied. "Creating machines for traveling to another dimension may not be hard, but to create something that can transport an entire species to another dimension… That's not something you can do easily, but I'm not saying it's impossible either… I did think of one method."

"I did think of one method too," Master Hand said. "Luckily, I came upon this while looking up the book for building the dimension-hopping machine. I didn't give it much thought at first, but when Eiki and Yukari came and told me everything, I suddenly remembered what I read. That method, to put it simple, has to do with detecting the DNA of the species that is being transported to another dimension. In doing that, all the other species with the same DNA will be detected and then transported without the usage of anything at all."

Rikako turned to Master Hand and stared at him for a few seconds before saying, "That was exactly what I had in mind…"

"Great minds think alike, don't they?" the Hand said.

"Transportation by DNA detection?" Fox curiously said. "I think I read about that before…"

"I don't get it…" said a confused Parry.

"Transport one thing, and then everything similar to that thing will automatically be transported," Snake explained to him.

"Oh, that's more understandable for me!" the parrot said. "Thanks for the simple explanation!"

"However, I have to add to the fact that this is no simple task," Rikako said. "While what Master Hand said will without doubt work, the sheer amount of yukkuris in this world makes it so that transporting only one or a few yukkuris will not work. If my estimation is correct, the average amount of yukkuris required for this to work would be around… 900."

"900?!" the Smashers said in shock.

"Yeah, just what she said," Master Hand said. "We're transporting a common species found in this world after all. If we want to transport all the chickens from our world somewhere else, a large amount of chickens must be used as well. According to experts, there are more chickens in our world than humans, humanoids, anthropomorphic animals, and such!"

"So to put it simple, we need to round up at least 900 yukkuris in order to make all the yukkuris in this world disappear?" Pichu asked.

"That's the basic thing to be done," the Hand replied. "However, I'm sure there is still one thing that has to be done…"

"What is it?" Pikachu asked.

"Master Hand is right," Rikako said while adjusting her eyeglasses. "There is still one more thing that has to be done. Will have to look into it more…"

"We'll let you know once we looked into things again," Master Hand said to the Smashers. "In the meantime, you guys start rounding up yukkuris. We will also get to work on making preparations."

"How soon can this be done?" Link asked.

"Not sure, but I can guarantee that it won't take more than a month," the Hand replied.

"As long as it's not over three months, it's fine, I guess…" Fox said.

"Definitely won't go over three months, I guarantee," Master Hand said.

"So… maybe we should start counting the number of yukkuris we rescued from Pyronicus's place now?" Olimar asked.

"Before that, I just thought of something…" Snake said. "If the three of you are going to make a machine that will allow the yukkuris to be sent to another dimension, then what's the point of having Yukari? Doesn't the machine do the exact same thing as her ability?"

Everyone looked at Yukari, and Master Hand said, "Now that I think of it… You do have a point…"

"You can say that I'm here to oversee the whole thing and help in case I'm needed," Yukari replied. "Traveling from one dimension to another is not exactly the safest thing to do in the world. Chances are likely that the transportation messes up, and you guys and the yukkuris end up being trapped in the space between dimensions. As someone who expertise in traveling through dimensions, I have to make sure that such a thing doesn't happen. If it was simply something like walking from one dimension to another, then it's no big deal, but we're talking about sending an entire species to another dimension, something that, to my memory, has never been accomplished by anyone yet."

"So by doing this, we're making ourselves the first people in the world to accomplish such a feat?" Pichu asked.

"That's true," the demon replied with a nod.

"There are still some other things to look into regarding this," Master Hand said. "Therefore, we may still find something more important for Yukari to do. I'm sure her powers will come in handy. So… that's basically our plan for now."

Everyone was silent for a while, wondering what else there was to say. Nitori then asked, "So… can we start building the dimension-hopping machine now?"

"Perhaps I can upgrade my current machine so that it is capable of performing such a feat," Master Hand said. "It saves a lot more time than building a new one from scratch, you know."

"You have a point," Rikako said with a nod.

"Okay, if there's nothing else, then we should start counting the yukkuris we have," Olimar said.

"You have rescued exactly 122 yukkuris," Eiki told him.

"What? You counted them all already?" Luigi asked in surprise. "Oh right… You're the judge of afterlife, so you know, like, everything…"

"If you are looking to find more yukkuris, then I recommend the factory of Yu-Abuse Incorporated," Eiki told the Smashers.

"The factory of that company belonging to that rant-happy chairman?" Falco curiously said.

"Yes," Eiki replied with a nod. "That place is where abuse-related gadgets and devices are made, but at the same time, he carries out various kinds of abuse in that place, some for experimental purposes. Those experiments are cruel and inhuman ones that are unethical. You know how in our world, animals are sometimes used for testing chemicals? The experiments you find in Arnold's factory make the ones in our world look like child's play."

"That guy is sick…" Olimar commented.

"More like demented," Falco said.

"Well, if there's nothing else, then I think we should start getting busy," Rikako said.

"Right," Master Hand agreed. "The sooner we get started, the sooner we can get this done. Even though we have about three months before the deadline is reached, we still need to get things done fast. The sooner we can decrease the death rates here, the better."

"Then let's get to the factory fast!" Falco suggested. "I can't wait to mess up that guy's factory!"

"A lot happened today, and it's almost evening already," Luigi told him. "Can't we call it a day for now and think about that tomorrow? Rushing there now wouldn't be a good idea… We have to learn more about that place first."

"Luigi has point," Fox said. "We've been through quite a bit today already, and I'm sure most of us here are tired. We should deal with that tomorrow. Now, we should think of who should look after these yukkuris while we're gone. Obviously, we can't just leave them here by themselves. You'll never know if they run away or if abusers find them and kill them all."

"If you want to, my servants will look after them for you," Yukari told him.

"Really? Then that would be great!" Fox said. "Thank you very much!"

"Wait a minute… One more thing that really needs to be asked…" Falco said while looking at a particular yukkuri. "Is there any particular reason… why that yukkuri resembles Nitori?"

Everyone turned to the yukkuri he was talking about and saw that it indeed resembled Nitori. They turned to look at Nitori and then at the yukkuri again for comparison, and the kappa became embarrassed from being looked at in such a way. "Um… I don't know… And please don't at me like that… Please…" she said.

"It's one of the mysteries of the universe," Yukari said. "As it turns out, all the yukkuris discovered so far have appearances that look like some of the residents of Gensokyo."

"How is that possible?" Olimar asked. "Is there some kind of connection between this world and Gensokyo?"

"Finding alternate versions of yourselves in other universes are not out of the ordinary. Therefore, the easiest way to explain this is that the yukkuris are, like, the Gensokyo residents of this dimension," Eiki explained. "Who knows? You may even find a yukkuri version of yourself! However, like Yukari said, all the known yukkuris discovered so far resemble residents from Gensokyo."

"Okay… As if living buns are not strange enough…" Snake commented. "Yukkuris seem to get weirder the more you know about them…"

_END OF FLASHBACK_

* * *

"And now the only thing to do left is to print out the map," Fox said, "which is impossible, because Yukari didn't provide us with a printer…"

* * *

Early the next morning, Mario came out of his tent while stretching and yawning. A couple of reimus and marisas who happened to be standing nearby cheerfully said to him, "Good morning, nice mister! Did you sleep easy?"

"I did-a! And good-a morning to you too!" Mario said to them.

"Have an easy day today, mister!" the yukkuris said before hopping away.

"Such nice creatures!" Mario thought.

"It's true that these yukkuris are nice," said a woman's voice. Mario looked up and saw the woman with nine fox tails—Ran—standing in front of him. "However, you can say that it's because you rescued them yesterday. Normally, yukkuris are known to be friendly towards people who treat them well. However, there are certain yukkuris that people describe as scum, meaning they are very rude and self-centered, not even being nice to people who treat them kindly."

"I have no idea…" Mario said. "We neva ran into yukkuris like-a that-a yet… All da yukkuris we ran into so far are nice."

"Scum yukkuris are mostly found in alleys and garbage dumps, where the harsh environment drove them to fight against and be rude to each other for survival," Ran explained. "Because of their attitude towards people, they are common victims of abuse too."

"Well, I guess abuses like that-a are justifiable and understandable…" Mario commented.

"The issue with yukkuri abuse probably wouldn't have been a problem if it was only targeted at those kinds of yukkuris," Ran said, "but as you can see, even the innocent and nice ones are common targets of abusers. It is because of this that this world has people with very different views towards yukkuris. Some think that yukkuri abuse of all kinds are plain wrong, some think that only scum yukkuris should be abused, and some want to abuse all kinds of yukkuris, either for fun or for reasons they claim are justified. Yukkuris play a big role in this world."

"I can see that-a…"

Ran then turned to look at the yukkuris frolicking around the place. "The abusing and suffering of these creatures will never come to an end so long as they continue to live here. However, I do also question how the people here are going to continue to live on once yukkuris have disappeared from this world. To some people, it may actually be a good thing, for they can now sleep in peace, knowing that yukkuris are no longer being abused, but for people addicted to abusing…"

"I understand what-a you want-a to say," Mario said, looking at the yukkuris as well. "Change may be hard-a to accept, even eef eet eez for da good-a of something…"

Suddenly, a gap appeared in between them, and Yukari popped out of it. "Morning, everyone!" she said. "I brought breakfast! Let's eat!"

"You woke up early, Mistress Yukari!" said a surprised Ran. "You always wake up late and need someone to wake you up most of the time!"

"Hey, I do wake up early if there is something important to attend to, you know," Yukari told her, "especially if there is no one to wake me up."

* * *

After the Smashers were done with breakfast, they were gathered together in front of Yukari and her two servants. "Okay, so I take that you people are ready to get into action, right?" she asked the Smashers. "I hope you are all prepared."

"We're all prepared," Fox told her. "It's all thanks to you for providing us with a computer containing the network of this world and eventually a printer! With maps of the factory, we will have no problem navigating that place."

"They just have to have a room for abuse-related recreation, don't they?" Falco asked, looking at his copy of the map.

"I guess it's something normal in this world," Snake said, looking at his copy. "I wouldn't be surprised if they have this at schools too…"

"Teaching kids to abuse yukkuris?! That is plain wrong!" Olimar said in horror. "They wouldn't do that, would they?"

"Hey, we met parents who apparently taught their kid to abuse yukkuris," Falco reminded him.

"Nah, they don't have anything like that in the schools here," Yukari said. "At least the last time I checked in that particular school… That's not important now… Anyway, I'm thinking of sending someone with you. I'm sure you'll find her helpful."

"Who is it?" Link asked.

Yukari turned to the cat girl and asked her, "Chen, are you willing to lend these people your hand?"

The cat girl named Chen looked at Yukari and curiously said, "Who, me?"

"Yes, I'm giving you a choice," Yukari replied.

"Why are you sending Chen with them, Mistress Yukari?" Ran asked her mistress. "She doesn't have anything to do with…"

Before Ran could finish speaking, Chen said, "Okay! I'll go with them!"

"Chen!" Ran said to her in surprise.

"You don't have to worry about me, Mistress Ran. I'll do my best to help them!" Chen said to her superior.

"The reason I'm sending Chen with you people is because switches for certain machines are sometimes placed in places that are hard to reach without ladders," Yukari explained to the Smashers. "Chen, being a cat, excels in climbing and reaching high places, so I'm sure she will be of help. Plus, she's very stealthy too, so if you need her to spy on anything, she's your girl! You don't have to worry about protecting her; she knows how to defend herself."

"I see," Fox said.

"As long as we don't have to babysit her, she can come with us," Snake said.

* * *

At the front gate of Yu-Abuse Inc.'s factory, the gatekeeper saluted when the limousine carrying Arnold came passing through. After the driver parked the limousine, the chairman of the company stepped out of his vehicle and headed into the factory with his secretary. As he walked through the place, various workers greeted him.

A sinister-looking bald old man wearing a lab coat came over to greet and shake hands with him. "It's a pleasure to see you here, Chairman Arnold!" he said.

"I'm here to see the new products, Dr. Blak," Arnold said to him. "Are they ready to be sold to the public yet?"

"They are entering the final stages of testing," the old man named Dr. Blak replied. "After that, we will have to come up with marketing strategies before they can be properly sold to the public. Will you please come and see these new devices?"

"With pleasure," Arnold said before letting Dr. Blak lead him and his secretary down the place.

They came across a yuyuko that was larger than normal yukkuris, but smaller than dosuyukkuris. It was held in place by metal straps, and its mouth was forced to open with no way of closing by a ring gag. They walked past it as if they didn't notice it, and at the same time, a worker came to it, carrying with him a trash can which he emptied into the yuyuko's mouth. The yuyuko cried when it tasted the disgusting trash that went into its stomach and wanted to say something, but the ring gag only allowed it to make incomprehensible cries.

Arnold and his secretary were taken over to a table that had a rectangular box-shaped device with an opening at the front. "The yukkuri crusher that is inspired by can crushers is pretty much ready to be sold," Dr. Blak said to Arnold. "In order to make it so that no cleaning is required after yukkuris are crushed, a special kind of gas is released inside the device that causes the crushed yukkuri to vaporize into thin air completely. The power of the crusher is really strong; even yukkuris with the toughest skin can be crushed completely flat! I will test it using a yoshika, as those kinds have very tough skin."

A worker handed Dr. Blak a yoshika, and the latter put the yukkuri into the device. The yukkuri looked around the place with a smile on its face, unaware of its impending doom. When Dr. Blak pulled the lever that was built at the side of the device, the crusher came down really fast and completely flattened the yoshika. In fact, it came down so fast that the fillings didn't fly out at all.

"See? Not a single mess is made when the crusher comes down," Dr. Blak said to Arnold. "The speed the crusher comes down at is so fast that it keeps anything from flying away. Also, for safety reasons, the machine is designed to detect the kind of things that are put inside. If it detects anything other than yukkuris, it will not come down and will even notify the user with a computerized voice about it."

"That is important," Arnold said with a nod. "We do not want customers complaining to us about how accidents happen when they tried to crush yukkuris, such as accidentally crushing their own hands. Good, this product is ready to go. Coming up with a marketing strategy won't be hard for sure."

After the crusher went back up, grayish gas came out from the sides of the bottom, causing the flattened yoshika to disappear when it got exposed to it.

"We still have some more products we want you to check out," Dr. Blak said to Arnold. "Please come with me." So the old man led him and the latter's secretary to another place.

Meanwhile, the Smashers and Chen were outside the factory, behind the fence and outside the building. They looked at the massive building, and Snake said, "Okay, time to get to work!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

The series' most beloved cat girl is getting her chance to shine! Chen is going to have some major roles in the next few chapters, so fans of her are in for a treat!

And yes, that's Rikako from Touhou 3.

Because Yoshika and Chinese zombies in general are known to have tough skin, I imagine yukkuri yoshikas to have tough skin as well.

Also, I heard that there are more chickens on Earth than humans.


	12. Factory of Uneasiness

In case you haven't figured out yet, Rupert is the same person the Smashers saw "playing golf" using the koyukkuris and then running over the mother with a motorcycle in the second chapter.

And sorry for the wait once again…

**Chapter 12  
Factory of Uneasiness**

* * *

The Smashers approached the backdoor, but they kept their distance from it to see if there were any security cameras nearby, and sure enough, they spotted one not too far away from the door. "To think that the Identity Bracelet would have such a function, the ability to conceal yourself from being detected by cameras," Snake said as he pressed a button on the bracelet he was wearing. "Handy, isn't it?"

"It sure is," Link said while pressing the button on his bracelet. Everyone else did the same thing. "Had we known this earlier, there wouldn't be any need for anyone to take over the security control room in Pyronicus's place."

"Just remember, however, we are only invisible to security cameras," Fox reminded everyone. "We can still be spotted by the people around us, so we still have to be careful."

"Now that I think of it, only hiding yourself from security cameras doesn't seem that useful, does it?" Luigi said. "Making you invisible is better if you ask me."

"You should be grateful that it still makes our job a bit easier," Falco said to him. "If you beat up people and hide them well enough, nobody would notice anything wrong, but if you destroy security cameras, someone will surely notice it, so you should avoid doing anything to them."

"You have a point…" Luigi said with a nod.

"Before we go inside, let's go over the plan again," Snake said to everyone. "Before that, let's hide somewhere where no one will see us." There were some crates and barrels nearby, so they went and hid behind them. "Okay, according to this map, there is a room where they store yukkuris. I'm not sure how many yukkuris they store here, because this factory makes abuse-related devices and not products made of yukkuris. Because of this, I doubt they need a large amount of yukkuris here for industrial purposes."

"But Eiki said we can rescue a lot yukkuris here," Olimar said, "so I think we might still be able to rescue a large amount of them."

"Whatever the case is, we'll have to get to the yukkuri storeroom first," Snake said. "Perhaps they are stored there for the purpose of being used to test the devices. There's also a recreation room where lots of abuse-related activities are going on, so one can imagine why there are lots of yukkuris stored here."

"To satisfy those abusers' sick entertainment, that's why," Falco said.

"Obviously, the storeroom is our main target," Snake continued. "However, traveling as a large group will surely make us easy targets, so we should split up and head to that room separately. Of course, we will also check out the place where they produce the gadgets to see if there are any yukkuris that need rescuing. After arriving at the storeroom, we will contact Yukari to help transport the yukkuris out of here. Remember, we should try to avoid causing chaos as much as possible, and if you do get seen by anyone…"

"Silence them in non-fatal ways," Falco said, interrupting him.

"Right… And why do I have the feeling that you really look forward to getting seen on purpose and then doing that…?" Snake said while looking at the bird with an odd expression. "So… let's form groups now."

They eventually decided upon the groups. Mario, Luigi, Olimar, and Chen were to go together. Donkey, Diddy, Pikachu, and Pichu were to go together. Fox, Falco, and Parry were a trio, and the last team consisted of only Snake and Link.

* * *

A reimu with burned feet was place on a box that had a device designed to grind things into fine powder place in front of it. An abuser approached her with a syringe containing yellow liquid in his hand and said to her, "Time for you to have lots of babies!" Then he injected the liquid into her body.

After being injected with the liquid, the reimu felt something in its womb, and then it realized that a baby was being born. It looked at its mamumamu and saw the face of a newborn koyukkuri coming out, exclaiming that it was being born easy. Knowing that being born in a place like this would spell death for the baby, it told the koyokkuri to stop being born. The abuser, on the other hand, chanted for the baby to be born fast.

The reimu was unable to stop the baby from being born, and when the baby came out from the mamumamu entirely, it instantly fell into the grinder and was killed, and grinded remains came out from the underside of the device. "MY BABYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" the reimu cried. The effect of the liquid instantly caused it to give birth again, and it cried in despair as its babies came out from its mamumamu one after another and falling into the grinder.

Needless to say, the abuser was laughing at the sight of this, and a friend of his was filming the whole thing while laughing too.

* * *

Dr. Blak and Arnold were both in a room with several computers and scientists, and the former was seated in front of and looking at a computer screen while explaining to Arnold something. "Each of the fingers is capable of firing needle-shaped bullets that can easily pierce through rocks and embed into steels. There are sprinklers built at the parts just above the feet that can spray water up to a distance of six meters. A flamethrower is built inside its mouth, and it can also release a very high-pitched sound that only yukkuris can hear, and being exposed to it for more than ten seconds will start to make them feel uncomfortable and eventually leading them to hurl up their fillings in discomfort and obviously dying.

"There is a compartment in the stomach that has an extendable arm for catching and bringing in yukkuris. The compartment will then kill them in various ways, either through microwaving, heating, filling with water and then becoming a blender, or compress them. The mouth also has an extendable tongue with a claw tip so that it can catch yukkuris like a frog and eat them. Of course, being a machine, it has no use for eating yukkuris. It simply does so to crush and gnash them into pieces with its mouth and teeth. Lastly, it is also equipped with missiles that track down and home in on yukkuris, no matter where they are. It can detect where yukkuris are from a very, very long distance. In short, no yukkuri on the planet is safe from the Yukkurinator!

"Very impressive!" said Arnold, pleased with what he heard. "When is it going to be finished?"

"It's closer to completion than you think," Dr. Blak replied. "In fact, I have confidence to say that it can get into action in just two days!"

"Good! Abusers will truly be excited by this masterpiece!" Arnold said. "A secret project that has been in construction for years! Finally, people will get to see a new form of abuse!"

"Now that I think of it, this truly is overkill, don't you think so?" Dr. Blak asked him. "I have never seen such a grand-scaled abuse!"

"There is no such thing as overkill or grand-scaled when it comes to yukkuri abuse," Arnold told him. "There can never be any form of abuse that is considered the worst of the worst for yukkuris! Yukkuris are the lowliest of all the trashes in the entire universe! If yukkuris are on the same league as dog excretion, then dog excretions are like diamonds! I'd rather be locked in a room filled with one hundred lions that haven't eaten or drank anything in months than to siton the same sofa as a yukkuri!"

"My! Your hatred for yukkuris knows no bounds!" Dr. Blak commented. "Not saying it's a bad thing, mind you. Heeheehee!"

* * *

"So… you can actually fly?" asked a rather surprised Luigi as he looked at Chen, whose feet was hovering a few centimeters in the air while moving alongside him.

"Yes," the nekotama replied with a nod. "Several people in Gensokyo have the ability to fly. Even people who come from the outside world can develop the ability to do so if they hang out around there long enough. I'm not sure how that is possible, though…"

"Then when they leave Gensokyo, will they still be able to fly?" Luigi asked.

"I don't know… Given the fact that I'm currently flying, maybe they can, or maybe it has to do with the fact that I'm not human…" Chen said.

"Must be very handy to be able to fly around freely! I'm sure Falco will love that place!" Luigi said.

"I'm sure eet will be very handy for uz here too!" Mario said.

"My babyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!" shouted a voice.

"That sounds like a yukkuri!" Olimar said. "And it's coming from down the hallway!" The four of them ran down the hallway and looked into the room beyond to see a conveyor belt that had several green guns moving down it.

Standing at the end of the conveyor belt was a worker, and when a gun dropped down the end of it and onto a table, he picked it up to test it on newborn koyukkuris that were given birth by a reimu that was being injected with yellow liquid via a bottle that had a tube connected to the top of it. Obviously, its feet were burned to keep it from moving.

The liquid caused the yukkuri to give birth continuously, and every time a koyukkuri dropped onto the table in front of it, the worker would blast the former away with the guns, which fired blasts of air, to see if the products were working properly. Due to having fragile skin, the air caused the koyukkuri to be blown into pieces.

Whenever a gun was deemed working and without flaws, the worker would put it into a box, but if a gun didn't seem to work properly, or only pushed the koyukkuri off the table, he would put it into another box that had the label "_Defected Products_" written at its side. All the while, the reimu was crying for its babies to stop being born, as seeing them getting killed was a very horrifying and sad sight for it.

"How cruel…!" Luigi commented. "They could've just tested those things on something non-living!"

"Well, those things are for abusing yukkuris, so it only makes sense for them to test them on one," Chen reminded him.

"Yeah, you're right…" the plumber in green said.

"We have to stop him!" Olimar said.

"But-a how?" Mario asked.

"There's got to be a switch for turning off the machine," Olimar said. "We'll just turn it off, and while the worker is off to check what is wrong with the machine, we'll take the yukkuri out of there!" Olimar looked around and noticed a switch on the higher part of the room that could be reached using a staircase that was across the room. "That must be it! Chen, since you can fly, can you go up there and pull the switch?"

"Leave it to me!" Chen said. After making sure that the worker wasn't looking in their direction, Chen ran up the wall on all fours and then kicked off it to get onto the ledge above.

"I thought I told her to fly…" Olimar said.

"But look at her go! I don't think an actual cat is even that skilled!" Luigi said.

Once at the top, Chen pulled down the switch, and at once, the conveyor belt stopped moving. "Eh? What happened?" the worker who was testing the guns wondered. Chen quickly ran away before he turned to look at the switch. "Hey, who turned it off?" The worker then headed for the staircase to get to the higher floor, and while he was doing so, Olimar and Luigi rushed over to the help the reimu and a koreimu respectively.

"Be quiet! We'll get you and your friends out of here!" Olimar said to it as he and Luigi returned into the hallway. Chen had also jumped down from the higher floor to rejoin them.

Unknown to them, there was a security camera on the wall nearby, and it lens was turned in their direction.

* * *

In the security control room, one of the security guards in there saw something peculiar on the screen. He looked as closely as possible to make sure that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, but no matter how he looked at it, he was without doubt seeing a yukkuri floating in the air. "How is that possible…?" He told the other guards in the room to come over and see, and they were surprised to see such a sight too.

"How is that yukkuri floating in air?!"

"It's not even bobbing up and down! It's like it's being held in place by something invisible!"

"Look! It's floating away!"

"Quick! Send some people to that hall to see what's going on!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Link and Snake were in another part of the factory, and the former said, "You know, I expected a factory to be more crowded. I mean, shouldn't there be lots of workers running around and doing their jobs? It's as if this place is abandoned!"

"Makes you think if spy movies were really accurate in portraying facilities with few people wandering around, doesn't it?" Snake commented.

Suddenly, they saw Donkey's group up ahead, so they ran to each other to regroup. "Didn't expect to see you people here!" Donkey said.

"The map points to the yukkuri storeroom being here," Snake said, "so we simply followed it. Obviously, you guys came here for the same reason."

"Right, so it can't be a coincidence at all," Pikachu said with a nod.

Suddenly, there was the sound of an electronic bell ringing, and then the Smashers noticed the door they were standing in front of starting to open, so they quickly pressed themselves against the parts of the wall on both sides of the door in hope of not getting seen by whoever was coming out. When the door opened, a large amount of workers came out while chatting.

During the midst of this, Snake motioned for Link to get mixed into the crowd and then slip inside the room. On the other side, Diddy had the same idea, so his group also got mixed in the crowd and then squeezed themselves into the room. Using this method, both groups managed to get into the room without any of the workers noticing them.

After the workers were all gone from the room, the Smashers shut the door, and Diddy said, "Well, that sure went as planned! Good of you to come up with the same idea as us!"

"Maybe I came up with it first?" Snake said. "Anyway, it's a good thing that we managed to get in here with luck." He then looked at his map. "This is the recreation room, and the yukkuri storeroom is accessed through here."

"I understand now!" Link said. "So it was break time while we were sneaking around, which explains why we barely ran into anyone out there! The workers were all hanging out here in the meantime, and the bell just now marked the end of the break, so they poured out of here to get back to work!"

"Speaking of recreation…" Pikachu said, looking all around the room. "You might want to look at how they pass time here…"

The Smashers looked around and saw various forms of entertainments that had evidences of yukkuri abuse. At one part of the room, they saw some yukkuris placed in front of several targets, and there were koyukkuris splattered against the latter and the parts of the wall around them. At another part of the room, there was a tenshi hanging down from the ceiling via a rope, and placed on a table next to it were a pair of boxing gloves. Judging by the wounded appearance of the tenshi, it was obviously used as a punching bag, but for some reason, the yukkuri had a happy expression.

They also saw a crying reimu with a grinder placed in front and below it, and it was softly lamenting about its babies. Link walked up to the reimu and petted it, saying to it, "Don't worry; we're not here to hurt you. We're here to ensure that something like this never happens to you and your babies again!"

"Man! Being here makes me angry!" Donkey said while looking at a certain form of abuse that involved shooting water at models of buildings, and on certain parts of the buildings and the enclosed spot in front of them, remains of yukkuris could be seen, obviously melted water.

Snake said as he walked around the room, "Let's look for the storeroom and then contact Yukari." He then noticed some guns placed on a gun rack that was hanging on the wall, and out of interest, he picked up a machine gun from there. "Pretty neat-looking, eh? It's even the real thing! Don't tell me…" He looked to the side and noticed an indoor shooting range that had several dead yukkuris lying in front of where the shooters were supposed to stand. "Figures…"

Link walked up to him and said, "Geez… They even go as far as using real guns… Isn't this a bit too dangerous, even for abusing? Man… These people really go to the extremes, all for the sake of having fun…"

"And I have a feeling that we'll see even worse," Snake said, and then he looked up and saw a glass door with the words "_Cyber Yu-Terminator_" printed on it. "What's this?" Still with the gun in his hand, he entered through that door with Link.

On the other side, they were greeted with a large hole with railings around it, but what caught their attention the most was a large mechanical ride of sorts with arms, and the entire thing was connected to the ceiling via a long segmented "body". "Whoa… What is this…?" Link asked as he walked up close to the machine.

Snake also walked up close to the machine, and when he looked into the cockpit, he noticed a coin slot. Link looked at a sign placed at the side that showed instructions. "It seems to be a coin-operated ride," he said. "The goal of this game is to use this thing to terminate yukkuris down there in a given amount of time…" They both then looked down the hole to see a large amount of yukkuri remains, fillings, and tattered accessories. "Okay… I get the idea…"

"I'm sure this is, like, the most awesome-looking coin-operated ride ever," Snake said. "Would be nice if it weren't used for this purpose…"

"Hey, look over there!" Link said, pointing to a certain spot at the bottom of the hole. There leaning against the wall was an alice, weeping bitterly.

"Yep, I see what you're talking about," Snake said.

"Since it's still alive, we should get it out of there," Link said.

"How are you going to do that?' Snake asked him. "Other than using this machine to get down there or jumping down there, there's no other way down, and if you use the latter method, you won't be able to come back up."

Link took out his claw shot and said, "Are you forgetting that I have this? Just leave that yukkuri to me!" He then fired the claw shot at the railing across the hole, and after the claw had gripped onto it, he jumped into the hole and swung to the other side, landing his feet against the wall and then lowering himself. He immediately went to the alice, who looked up at him curiously. "Don't worry, little fella. I'm here to get you out of here!"

Just then, Snake noticed the door behind him opening, so he quickly rushed to the part of the wall next to it to avoid getting seen by the worker that came through it. "This game is too fun to pass up a second round!" he happily said. "Hope nobody sees me sneaking in here during work time to play this!" Snake quickly ran to the other side of the room when the person climbed into the ride so that he wouldn't get seen, and after the person seated himself inside the cockpit, he inserted the coin into the coin slot. The entire thing made the sound of engine starting and then moved.

From the bottom of the hole, Link looked up with a shocked look. "Oh boy… This is… not good…" Picking up the alice, he quickly got behind the machine when it came down. Suddenly, parts of the walls opened, and several yukkuris rolled out of them. In a moment, the bottom of the hole had several yukkuris, some of them looking scared, some looking cheerful, and some confused.

"All right! Get ready to be terminated!" the person in the machine said as he started pressing the buttons and moving the levers on the control panel. The arms of the machine released electricity from the tips and then used them to zap two yukkuris at the front.

BZAAAAAAAAP!

The yukkuris screamed as the high voltage electricity fried them completely, and when the other yukkuris saw this, they screamed and then huddled together for safety. The person snickered as he turned the machine in their direction, and he pressed a button that made the arms spin like drills. Suddenly, Link ran in front of him with his sword and shield out. "Hey! Who are you and what are you doing down here?!" the person asked in surprise. "Get out of here! There shouldn't be anyone down here! It's dangerous!"

"I won't let you kill these yukkuris!" Link loudly said to him.

"This is a game! Don't spoil my fun, will ya?!" the person angrily replied. "Move it before time is up and I don't get to kill all the yukkuris!"

"I told you I'm not moving from here!" Link shouted at him. "If you do anything to these yukkuris, I'll wreck your ride!"

"I told you to get out of the way!" the person angrily shouted as he made the ride swing its arm at Link from the side. He used his shield to block it, but he got knocked away. "Haha! Time to die, you yukkuris!" The arms spun like drills again and slammed forward to hit the yukkuris, but most of them managed to escape unharmed.

From the top of the hole, Snake looked down at the situation going on and wondered what he could do. He suddenly remembered the machine gun he carried with him here, and then looking at the segmented body, he fired rapidly at it using the gun. This caused the ride to malfunction. "Hey! What happened?!" said the person while pounding the buttons and moving the levers. "Why has it stopped moving?!" He looked up and screamed when he saw Link jumping at him with his sword raised into the air, ready to plunge it into him.

Link's sword went through the glass with ease, but it did not hit the person; it only went past his face and stabbed the chair. Link then pulled out the sword and slashed the glass multiple times to cut it into pieces, and then he pulled out the person by the collar and flung him onto the floor. The person crawled back in panic and said to him, "No! Wait! Please don't kill me! I'm sorry killing these yukkuris! Please forgive me! I'll leave quietly!"

"And let you tell everyone else about what happened? Yeah right!" Link angrily said before running at the screaming guy, and he hit him hard on top of the head with the hilt of his sword to knock him out.

Seeing Link knocking out that guy, the yukkuris circled him and started thanking and praising him.

"Thank you, kind mister!"

"Mister helped reimu take it easy! Thank you very much, kind mister!"

"Yu! You are a kind mister! Marisa likes you!"

"Alice wants to do rub-rub with you!"

"Parsee is jealous that mister is strong, but parsee still wants to thank you."

"Link!" shouted the voice of Snake, and then Link and the yukkuris looked up to see Snake and the other four Smashers up there.

"Thanks for the help, Snake!" Link said to him.

"Sorry that we didn't stop that guy from coming in here…" Donkey said to the Hylian. "We wanted to avoid being seen, so we hid instead when we saw the door opening."

"It's all right," Link told him. "Now how do I get out of here with all these yukkuris?"

"Use the door behind you?" Pikachu told him.

The Hylian turned around and saw that was indeed a door behind him. "How come I didn't notice this before?" He opened the door and saw a staircase leading upwards. He told the yukkuris to follow him, and they did. After reaching the top of the staircase, they emerged from a door at the top of the room, and the other Smashers ran up to them. "Now that's convenient. Guess it's made for people who accidentally fall down there."

"May be made for janitors to clean up the mess down there too," Pichu said.

* * *

"Theez eez really not-a good…" Mario said, commenting on his group's current situation. Standing all around them were guards and workers, and the former was pointing guns at them.

"Come quietly with us! And don't try to do resist either!" one of the guards told them.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I originally intended for Snake to be down at the pit, rescuing the yukkuris from the machine, but I ended up using Link due to not being able to come up with a way for the former to get to the bottom. I didn't come up with the staircase idea yet too, and even after coming up with it, I purposely didn't make Link and Snake notice it right away.

Tenshi is not a masochist in canon; that is made up by fanon due to her "punish me" quote, which is more like a taunt to get the opponent to fight her, something she enjoys doing. Despite this, it's been established that yukkuri tenshi is a masochist, so because it's not the real Tenshi being used here, I'm fine with portraying it as a masochist.


	13. Easily a Frightening Sight

**Chapter 13  
Easily a Frightening Sight**

* * *

Mario's group huddled close to each other and dared not to do anything other than wondering about what to do next, as they were surrounded by guards and workers. With his gun pointed at them, one of the guards said, "Come with us quietly! Don't you dare try to do anything!"

"What do we do? What do we do…?" asked a nervous Luigi.

"Keep-a calm," Mario said to him. "We'll just go with them quietly for now…"

The guards closed in on the Smashers, the yukkuris they rescued, and Chen, but all of a sudden, the latter jumped at the guard in front of her and slashed him across the face. The other guards immediately pointed their guns at her and told her to stop, but the nekotama, with swift movements, attacked and struck down most of the guards and then rushed down the hallway really fast.

"Stop her! Don't let her get away!" one of the guards shouted, and then some of the guards gave chase.

"Quick! This is the time to act!" Luigi said, but he stopped thinking of doing anything when the guard next to him pointed his gun at him. "Or maybe not…"

"Your female friend will be joining you very soon!" he said to the Smashers.

"Well, at least Chen escaping will allow her to…" Olimar said, but he immediately stopped for a second, as he realized that he was about to spill the fact that there were more of them here, "come up with a plan to rescue us…"

"Yeah," Mario said with a nod.

* * *

Snake's side managed to find the yukkuri storeroom, which was accessed through the recreation room. When they entered the room, they were greeted with the sight of cages lined along the walls and stacked on top of each other, all of them containing yukkuris. "Wow! That's a lot of them, more than Pyronicus's place!" Diddy commented.

"Looks like it's going to take a while to get them all out of here…" Pikachu said.

"Not with Yukari on our side," Pichu reminded him. "Let's hope she can make our job easier."

Snake took out his smartphone and dialed a certain number. He waited for a response, and when Yukari's voice was heard on the other side, he said, "It's me, Snake. Yes, we've reached the storeroom. Can you come here now? What? You need to get a clear look at what the room looks like first? Okay, I'll record it using the video camera function." He ended the call and then used his smartphone as a video camera to record the room's appearance.

"What are you doing?" Link asked. Snake was about to answer him when suddenly a gap appeared next to the cloned soldier, and Yukari stepped out of it.

"She needs to know what this place looks like first before she can come here," Snake told him.

"As long as I know what that place looks like, I can go there," Yukari explained. "Either that, or I can simply wander around the space between dimensions and try to search for this place through luck, but that's going to take a while."

"Then how did you get in contact with Master Hand?" Pichu asked. "You don't know where he lives and what his place looks like, don't you?"

"I've seen pictures of Onett before, so I'm able to go to that place using my ability," she replied. "After that, I asked the people there until I found out where you Smashers live, and then I was able to meet Master Hand after that."

"So you met the rest of us already, eh?" Snake asked.

"What do you think?" the demon asked him.

"I'll take that as a yes," he replied.

Yukari then looked at cages. "Well, they sure stuffed up this place real good! Not a problem for me, however. She walked up to one of the cages and observed it. "Seems that these cages are embedded to the floor, so it would be impossible to move them somewhere… How about you guys get these poor things out of these cages first and then gather them together in some kind of container? I will then create a gap for you to send them through and back to the ranch we made."

The Smashers nodded and then got to work. There were carts, cardboard boxes, and plastic containers in the room, so they used them to store the yukkuris, telling them to take it easy and that they were going to take them out of here while doing so. The cage doors were locked using pegs, and pulling out the latter was no issue at all.

In the midst of doing this, Snake's smartphone rang, so he answered it. "This is Snake."

"It's me, Fox," said the voice on the other side.

"What is it? And where are you guys? It shouldn't take you that long to come here," Snake said. "Even Donkey's group got here before you!"

"Let's not talk about that now, can we?" Fox said to him. "We saw trouble here…"

"What happened?" Snake asked.

"While making our way here, we saw Mario's group being led by guards down the hallway… They're caught…" Fox told him.

"What?!" the cloned soldier asked in shock.

"Therefore, Falco, Parry, and I have decided to follow them to look for an opportunity to help them," Fox said. "Oh, and by the way, Chen isn't with them for unknown reasons. Maybe she got away."

"Well, let's hope she can deal with things on her own," Snake said. "Anyway, the rest of us are in the storeroom with Yukari now, and we're helping the yukkuris get out of here."

"Go ahead and help them," Fox told him. "The rest of us will go and help Mario and the others."

"We'll rush over to help as soon as we're finished with everything here," Snake told him. "Try your best in the meantime and don't get caught, okay?"

"We will. All right, we're setting out," Fox said, and then he ended the call.

Snake lowered the smartphone from his ear, and the others went up to him and asked what happened, so he told them about what he heard from Fox. "Mario and the others are captured?!" Link said in shock.

"Chen is missing too?" Yukari said, not sounding shocked or worried in any way. "You don't have to worry about her. Like I said before, she's capable of defending herself. She's even capable of getting out of this place with no effort, I tell you."

"So you're saying that we don't have to worry about her at all," Pikachu asked, and Yukari nodded in response. "Well, if you say so…"

"I'm also sure she's on her way to help your captured friends too," Yukari said. "Therefore, you can be sure that your other friends will have support. In the meantime, we should finish up what we came here for. After that, you can head over to help them, assuming that they aren't done with things there yet."

"Yukari is right," Snake said. "It is times like this that having a large group is a good idea, because we can get different works done separately. Leave Mario, Luigi, and Olimar to Fox's group and Chen. Plus, I'm sure Mario's group can hold things up by themselves too. They're not the kind of people to go down without a fight, maybe except Luigi."

The Smashers nodded in agreement, and then they went back to helping the yukkuris out of their cages.

* * *

After hearing about who broke into his factory, Arnold was, without a single doubt, full of rage, knowing that the group of people who got on his nerves these past few days was now causing him trouble. "I can't believe that those outsiders actually came!" the chairman angrily said while walking in circles over and over. "Knowing what happened to Pyronicus, I should've seen this happening from miles away! It was only a matter of time before they storm into this place without my permission and cause trouble!"

"Well, you can't really blame them for breaking into this place unnoticed when the security here isn't tight," Dr. Blak told him. "Can't blame you for not tightening the security here too, since we never had any cases of people breaking in without permission… It's really the concern of yukkuris trying to break out of here that we're concerned about, but even that never happened before, so… Yeah, you get what I mean…"

"I'll teach them a lesson about coming into other people's territory and trying to make it out with belongings that don't belong to them!" Arnold said. "The only possible reason they're here is to rescue the yukkuris! Of course, they're here to rescue the yukkuris, after the story they made up about some monster threatening to destroy our world if we keep on killing yukkuris! They're just finding an excuse to make their actions justifiable! There is no justifiable reason to rescue yukkuris! None at all! Yukkuris are trash that should be destroyed no matter what! Every form of abuse and torture towards them are justifiable! There is and will never be a justifiable reason for helping them!"

As he was ranting about this, the door to the room he was in opened, and the guards led Mario's group inside. "Here they are, Chairman Arnold," the guard in lead said.

Arnold immediately went up to the Smashers and loudly said into Mario's face, "Ah! So you troublemakers are here, and about time to, even though I'm in no way glad to see your ugly mugs!"

"Geez… Thanks for the friendly welcome…" Luigi sarcastically said.

Arnold looked at the reimu and the koreimu that were in Olimar and Luigi's hands respectively and said, "So you came all the way here to rescue trash like them, eh?" Without saying anything else, he pulled the reimu over by its hair and then snatched the koreimu out of Luigi's hand. He hurled the reimu onto the floor and then stomped it over and over. The yukkuri screamed and coughed out its fillings with each stomp until it finally stopped doing so, and then Arnold flung the crying koreimu across the room, splattering it against the wall.

"How could you?!" Olimar said in horror.

"I can say the same to you too for rescuing them!" Arnold shouted at him while pointing at him. "You think you can walk in here like you're the boss of this place and do whatever you want?! Listen! I'm the boss around here, and nobody here is allowed to do certain things they want to without my permission! Also, where are the rest of you people?! The rest of them are definitely somewhere here, and I want them all here at once!"

"There was a young girl with them," the lead guard told him, "but she got away. The other guards are going after her."

"There's even more! I know it!" Arnold said. "Search every single part of the factory, especially the storeroom! If they're here to rescue the yukkuris, then that's the place they're definitely at! Head over there at once and bring them all here!"

Outside the room, Fox, Falco, and Parry overheard everything, and after hearing that Arnold was sending guards to go and search the storeroom, they were shocked. They immediately went away from the door and hid around a corner to avoid being seen by the guards when they came out, and then Fox quickly dialed a number on his smartphone. "Snake! Bad news! Guards are heading over to the storeroom!"

* * *

"Great… That's the last thing we need…" Snake said into his smartphone. "We still have a lot of yukkuris to pack into containers, and going by this pace, we definitely won't make it before the guards arrive… Looks like we'll have to make it out with whatever we can for now…"

Hearing what Snake said and understanding the situation, Yukari pointed her arm at the door and caused a large gap to appear in front of it, covering it completely. "You don't have to worry about anyone coming in here anymore," she told the Smashers.

Pikachu looked at the gap and said, "What did you do?"

"Just made it so that they'll end up in the wrong place every time they try to come in here," Yukari replied.

* * *

The guards reached the recreation room and immediately headed for the storeroom. However, they were greeted with the sight of the outside of the factory's front door when they opened the door. "What the?!" said one of the guards in surprise. They stepped out and looked around, and they were sure that this was indeed the outside of the factory.

"How did we end up here?!"

"Did we go through the wrong door?"

"Let's make sure again!"

The guards ran back through the gap and found themselves back in the recreation room, and then they turned around to look at the door they just went through to make sure that they didn't go into the wrong place. The sign above the door clearly wrote "_Yukkuri Storeroom_", but no matter how many times they rubbed their eyes, they were looking at the outside of the factory when they looked at the scenery behind the open door. "What is this all about…?" a guard said in confusion.

* * *

Back in the room Mario's group was taken to, Arnold was still shouting and ranting like crazy at the Smashers. It seemed as if he was never going to come to an end about this. "I don't think I know where he's getting at anymore…" Luigi commented. "He's not getting to a point or anything… All he's doing is ranting about how much he hates yukkuris and people who like them and such…"

"Better than throwing uz into prison or handing uz to da authorities, at-a least…" Mario said.

"I think his ranting will make a great Youtube video," Luigi then said. "Think about it…"

As Arnold was ranting nonstop, the door opened, and a short man with swirly eyeglasses and black hair resembling a clump of grass came in, looking very impatient and excited. "Dr. Blak! You got to see this!" he said. "I made it! I finally finished the project I was working on!"

"Ah, you must be talking about that one!" Dr. Blak said.

"Yes!" the short man said. "Please come and take a look at it at once! It's totally awesome!

Arnold, finally having stopped ranting, asked Dr. Blak, "What was he working on?"

"You know how he always has been excited by biological experiments related to yukkuris," Dr. Blak said to him. "He's been busy working on something. Creating a new life form, you can say."

"Creating a new life form?" Olimar curiously said.

"Why do I have the feeling that I'm going to have problems sleeping tonight if I see what his project is…?" Luigi wondered.

"Please come and take a look at it at once!" the short man said. "I'm can't wait to show it to you!"

"Well, Mr. Chairman, as long as we have these intruders within the range of our eyes, they can't do anything," Dr. Blak said to Arnold. "Let the guards deal with the others, so let us go and see Dr. Joe's creation now."

Arnold glared at the Smashers and said, "Fine! And in order to ensure that these three don't get into any trouble, they must come with us! I must make sure that they are within the range of my eyes at all times!"

So the short man named Dr. Joe led Arnold, Dr. Blak, and the Smashers to another part of the factory. Fox, Falco, and Parry followed them quietly, at the same time making sure that there were not spotted by anyone.

The former group came into a room that had test tubes all over the place, and each of them was filled with liquids of different colors and contained a yukkuri each. They also saw scientists performing various kinds of experiments and such on yukkuris, such as dissecting them alive, dropping chemicals onto them to see the reactions, killing them with weights in order to obtain physic-related answers, and more.

"Eiki wasn't kidding when she said they perform inhuman experiments here…" Luigi said.

"Even scientists don't treat lab rats like this…" Olimar said.

"You got a problem with the way we treat yukkuris here?!" Arnold angrily said to the Smashers. They did not say anything in respond, but simply followed him and his two scientists.

Dr. Joe led them into another room that had a large, circular hole surrounded by railings. "There it is!" Dr. Joe said to the others. "Behold my greatest creation yet! The Many-Faced Yu-Tarantula!"

Everyone looked at the thing that was in the hole, and the Smashers were horrified at what they saw. It was basically a large blob with numerous amounts of faces and four pairs of large spider legs. The eyes were looking all over the place, and the mouths were closing and opening nonstop, making the sound "yu" and saying "take it easy" slowly over and over. The sight of this bizarre creature was enough to make most people lose their appetite.

"I knew I shouldn't have come here…!" Luigi said in horror.

"Mamamia… What-a eez that-a…?" Mario said in shock.

"What you are looking at right now is created by sewing the faces of a total of 88 yukkuris together, and after forming it into the shape of a ball, fillings and paste cores of various kinds of yukkuris were put inside!" Dr. Joe explained. "The spider legs, as real as they may look, are actually artificial legs created from metal. The Many-Faced Yu-Tarantula wasn't able to move at first, due to its leg not being part of its body, but after a day had passed, the legs became melded to its fillings, so now it is able to walk like a real animal! Isn't it awesome?"

"You created this from several yukkuris?! How could you?!" Olimar said in shock and anger. "And what's the point of making an abomination like this?! Life is not to be played with like this!"

"How dare you call my masterpiece an abomination?!" Dr. Joe angrily said when he heard what Olimar said. "People who have no appreciation for art like you will never understand the awesomeness of my creation! You have no right to criticize my awesome work! Can't a genius create something for fun?!"

"I want it dead at once!" Arnold suddenly said.

Dr. Joe was shocked at hearing this. "What?! You can't be serious, Mr. Chairman! I just made it!"

"I did not pay you to make yukkuris to live, but to make them die!" Arnold told him. "I don't care if they are suffering or not in that grotesque form; the fact that they are still alive angers me to no end! The appearance also makes me want to throw up! Kill it at once!"

"Mr. Chairman! Please don't!" Dr. Joe pleaded. "Please at least let me take it back home and keep it as a pet! I'll take it out of here if you don't like it!"

"Now, now, Arnold," Dr. Blak said to the chairman, "you don't have to get so upset and worked up about this. You know the kind of person Dr. Joe is, and since he spent so much sweat in making this, why don't you just let him to take it home? As long as you don't pay him a visit, I'm sure you'll never lay your eyes on it again."

"No! The chairman is right!" Olimar said. "That thing must be killed! That sort of abomination must not exist! The fact that those yukkuris are still alive is what is most terrifying about this! They are forcefully merged together to become this monstrosity and may have very well have their minds permanently scarred! It is better to end life than to leave it in a state of eternal torture and suffering!"

"Unexpected words for someone who wants to protect yukkuris, eh?" Arnold said to him. "What's with you wanting that thing dead all of a sudden? I thought you want to protect yukkuris!"

"Right, we are here to protect yukkuris from the likes of you people, but you just had to make it so that euthanizing is the best answer to solving things! We may be on the exact opposite sides on the treatment of yukkuris, but I'll agree with you for once that the abomination before our eyes must be put to an end right now! Know this, however, that we will still grab every opportunity we can to save yukkuris from monsters like you!"

"The only monsters here are you people!" Arnold shouted at him. "The law of this place states that you're not allowed to interfere with the way we treat yukkuris! And what do you do? Make up a bizarre story about you trying to save this world from some monster? You're just trying to find a poor excuse for justifying your actions! People who love yukkuris like you and try to stop us abusers are the real monsters! Dr. Blak, call the authorities at once and get them to arrest these people!"

"As you wish," Dr. Blak said with a nod.

"And order for that monster over there to be terminated at once! Such a horrifying sight makes me want to puke!" he added.

"No! Please! Don't!" Dr. Joe begged.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of people crying coming from the previous room, so they rushed back into that room to see surprised scientists and guards knocked out on the floor, and standing at the door was Fox, Falco, Parry, and Chen. "Might as well go all-out now that we're spotted!" Falco said. "And by the way, kid, nice skills!"

"Don't judge a book by its cover!" Chen said.

"Why you?!" Arnold angrily said to them. "You're here to rescue your friends, right? Don't think any of you are going to get out of this so easily! I won't let you steal the yukkuris too!"

"You won't stop us so easily, Arnold!" Fox said to him. "Even as we are speaking, our friends are getting the yukkuris out of here without anyone stopping them! By the time we're done dealing with you, the yukkuris in the storeroom will be gone! We do not wish to cause too much harm to any of you here or this place, so you better not go too rough on us!"

"I told you none of you are getting out of here so easily or getting any yukkuris out of here!" Arnold shouted back. "Guards! What are you doing?! Hurry up and get them at once! Notify the police! I want to see these people arrested and behind bars at once!"

Suddenly, there was the sound of explosion, and the whole place shook as well. "What happened?!" Dr. Blak asked in shock while looking around.

"I have every reason to believe that the rest of the outsiders are up to no good!" Arnold angrily said. "Those fools better not have done anything to my factory, or else they're going to pay dearly for this!"

Fox looked back and said, "I'm not sure if I want them to be the reason behind that explosion…"

"Whoever is behind it, things are becoming a lot more fun now, isn't it?" Falco said. "Gotta give whoever did that a big thank you for this!"

Meanwhile, in the east side of the factory, the guards were panicking and firing at the intruders while avoiding the gun shots returned by them. "Report to the chairman at once!" one of the guards shouted. "Tell him that PETY is here! And they're coming in with heavy firepower!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Dr. Blak's design is based off Master Xehanort, that bald, old guy with a silver goatee, from the Kingdom Heart series, so yes, both him and Dr. Joe are OCs.

Not much really happened in this chapter, and that biological yukkuri horror, to be honest, won't be playing any role at all. I just wanted to show how twisted some of the people working for Arnold are.

I apologize to anyone who found this chapter underwhelming. I'm sure the next chapter will make up for this, seeing how PETY has entered the fray.


	14. Factory Invasion of Uneasiness

Sorry for the wait… Pretty much had this chapter completed yesterday, but was too lazy to finish up and proofread everything until today…

**Chapter 14  
Factory Invasion of Uneasiness**

* * *

On the east side of the factory, the workers were doing their jobs peacefully and quietly when suddenly a part of the wall exploded, blasting away the ones who were standing close to there.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Everyone turned to the explosion in shock and wondered happened, and then silhouettes were seen within the mass of smoke created by the explosion. Suddenly, bullets flew out of the smoke and struck some of the workers. The workers who didn't get shot screamed and ran for their lives, and then guards, after hearing the explosion, ran into the place to see what was going on, and they saw people dressed in army clothes walking out of the smoke, all of them armed with machine guns.

"What the?! Who are those people?!" one of the guards asked.

"It's PETY!" another one replied.

The members of PETY started firing at the guards, shooting down some of them, but some dodge the bullets and hid behind certain things for safety, and they took the opportunity to shoot when they could. "Report to the chairman at once!" one of the guards shouted. "Tell him that PETY is here! And they're coming in with heavy firepower!"

A guard heard him and nodded, and after making sure that it was safe to come out of his hiding spot, he did so and ran out of the room as fast as he could. The remaining guards continued to fight against PETY.

Suddenly, a rocket shot into the place and hit the wall, creating a large explosion that blew the guards forward.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Shortly after this, Raul, with a bazooka on his shoulder, came into the place and looked around the place before saying, "Look for the yukkuri storeroom and try to get all of them out of here."

"Yes sir!" one of his men replied.

He turned to some of his other men and said to them, "Plant the explosives. Get ready to detonate them when I give the signal."

"Yes sir!" they replied, and they set off to the designated places to plant the explosives.

Raul then moved forward and said to himself, "Now to give the chairman a little visit!"

* * *

In the storeroom, the Smashers were still busy loading yukkuris into carts and then sending the latter into a gap created by Yukari. "What was that explosion just now?" Donkey asked. "At least it sounded like something exploding…"

"There was even a minor shaking," Link added. "I have a feeling that this place will become a mess if we continue staying here any longer…"

"We still have at least three cages to empty," Snake said while pushing a cart into the gap, "so hurry up and get to work if you have time to say that!" Link nodded and then got busy again.

The Hylian opened a cage and then took out the yukkuris one by one to put them into a cart behind him. One of the yukkuris he took out, a rather fat reimu, said to him rudely, "Hurry up and get deibu out of here, mister geezer!"

"Yes, yes, I'm doing it right now, and please have a bit of manner," Link said to it, sounding a bit offended. "Is that how you're supposed to talk to someone who is saving your life?"

"Mister geezer has no right to talk to the great deibu like this!" the yukkuri angrily replied. "Now hurry up and get deibu out of here! Make sure to give deibu lots of sweet-sweets too!" Link grumbled in frustration and then put the reimu into the cart before reaching for the other yukkuris.

* * *

"Useless! Useless! All of you!" Arnold angrily shouted when he saw the guards beaten up by the Smashers and Chen with no effort. "Why am I even paying you people anyway?! Having mindless, robotic drones working for you is better, because you don't have to pay them at all!"

Hearing this, Dr. Blak thought of something. "Hoho! Why haven't I thought of that? Robotic drones! I have something that should make things more fun!" He then went over to the wall, and the Smashers watched with curiosity at what he was doing. He pressed a button on the wall to cause a part of the latter to open, and when it did, three robot walkers about a meter tall came out, and each of them had a cockpit containing a yukkuri.

"Yukkuri Walkers? Am I right in calling them that?" Falco asked.

"They're called Yu-Walker Killers," Dr. Blak corrected him. "These things are powered by yukkuris put into their cockpits, at which point will cause them to automatically go after any yukkuris that come within their range of sight and kill them. Basically, these are designed to make yukkuris witness the death of their kinds by their own hands. Of course, they aren't the ones that are causing the killing, but the walker. However, being the ones responsible for making the walkers move and kill make them feel guilty, and they would beg for the killing to stop, which, of course, won't happen until the target is dead!"

"Making yukkuris responsible for the death of their own kind? You people really disgust me with your sick way of finding pleasure!" Fox angrily said.

"The ones in the lab are modified to go after intruders, no matter who they are, as well," Dr. Blak said. "Do you think you can stop these things without taking out the yukkuris? While the ones sold in markets allow you to easily remove the yukkuris, the ones here are modified so that if the walker is destroyed, the yukkuri will be taken along with it, and all attempts to remove the yukkuri will cause it to be killed as well! This is to ensure that the yukkuris in there never get out alive!"

"You people are terrible!" Luigi said.

"People like you have no right to say that kind of things to us!" Arnold shouted at him.

"You want to protect yukkuris, don't you? Try protecting something that wants to kill you, then!" Dr. Blak said as he pointed at the Smashers, and the robot walkers moved in their direction. The other scientists, seeing that it would be dangerous to stay around, quickly headed out of the room.

The reimu inside one of the robot walkers said out loud, "Mister robot, please stop moving! Reimu doesn't want to hurt mister human! Please! Stop it!"

As the robot walker moved in the direction of Fox's group, Fox said, "What do we do? He said that if we try to rescue the yukkuris, they will die!"

"Then let's get them out of there before that happens!" Falco said.

The robot walkers emitted electricity from their hands and then ran at the Smashers and Chen, while Parry flew to the air for safety. Falco rushed at one of the robot walkers and sidestepped its electric hand before reaching for the reimu in its cockpit, but when he touched the former, he felt a zap that made him pull back. "Yeow!" The reimu was electrocuted by high voltage electricity until it was dead, but because its carcass was still in the cockpit, the robot walker was still able to move. It turned to Falco to attack him, but he gave it a swift kick to the body and knocked it over with ease.

Chen leaped over the robot walker that tried to electrocute her and turned around right before she landed, slashing it in the back when she did so. Her claws were sharp enough to cut through the robot walker's covering, and the damage caused the whole thing to short-circuit, not to mention killing the marisa that was in the cockpit, also through electrocution.

Fox moved back from the robot walker that tried to zap him and then shot its body multiple times with his laser gun to disable it, and then the nitori in the cockpit was killed in the same manner. "Darn it! We failed to rescue all of them!" he said.

"I told you there's no way to get them out of there alive," Dr. Blak told him. "See what you've done! You ended up killing the yukkuris! How do you feel killing the ones you were trying to rescue? Heheheh!"

Falco turned to him in anger and said, "You seriously think we enjoy doing this? It's because of your sick invention that this happened! I might as well unleash my rage against you to avenge them!"

Just then, a guard ran into the room in panic and said, "Chairman! It's PETY! They have broken into the factory from the east side! They're using firepower to force their way in and taking us out!"

"What?!" Arnold said in shock.

"Guess that explains the explosion we heard just now," Dr. Blak said. "Tsk! Not a very good day today is, eh?"

"Great… They're the last thing we really need here…" Fox said.

Arnold turned to Fox's side and said, "You're with them in this, aren't you?! You came here first to gather information and also distract us, and then they came here afterwards to cause trouble! Yes! You're both definitely in this together! PETY wants to save all yukkuris and cause trouble to us, so you're working with them in this!"

"Hey! Don't go jumping to conclusions, will you?!" Falco said to him in anger. "We may have the same idea, but their extreme ways make us as sick as you abusing yukkuris, so we're definitely not with them in this! The fact that they came here is something that we definitely did not expect! If anything, we're against them!"

"I don't care! Whether or not the both of you are in this together, you're all my enemies! I'll make sure that all of you here regret what you did today!" Arnold angrily shouted.

"Chairman! Your life may be in danger!" the same guard told him. "You must evacuate at once! We will protect you with our lives!"

"Then get to it!" Arnold said as he ran for the exit with Dr. Blak and Dr. Joe, and then he turned the Smashers. "You people better remember this! Assuming that this place does get torn down by PETY, and you people don't go down along with it, you better hope that you don't run into me again!"

"Wait! My creation!" Dr. Joe said. "I must take it along with me!"

"There is no time!" Dr. Blak said as he dragged him out of the room by the collar.

"No! My masterpiece! My pet! I don't want it to die here!" Dr. Joe cried.

After they were gone, the Smashers gathered together, and Mario said, "Now what-a?"

"We'll meet up with the others and see if they're done with taking the yukkuris out of here yet," Fox said. "We'll then get out of here using Yukari's ability." Suddenly, his smartphone rang, so he answered it. "Hello?"

"This is Snake," the cloned soldier said from the other side. "We're done with what we're doing here, and now we're on our way there to help you! How's the situation there?"

"Things just resolved themselves," Fox replied. "You can thank PETY for that…"

"Yeah, I heard from the guards that PETY broke into the place," Snake said. "Don't know whether or not it's a good thing that those guys came in here to make a mess… Anyway, we're on our way to where you are! Where are you anyway?"

"Wait a minute! Where's Yukari?" Fox asked him. "We can use her ability to leave this place instantly!"

"She left after we're done with the yukkuris, since we told her that we want to help you first, and then we'll leave this place by ourselves," Snake replied.

"Um… You do realize that you just gave up the easy way out of here, don't you…?" Fox asked him.

"Hey, you can't blame us for not knowing whether or not you still needed help…" Snake said to him. "Anyway, let's just get out of here by ourselves, then. Over and out!" After that, they ended the phone call.

"Now what?" Link asked Snake.

"Change of plan," Snake replied. "We'll head for the exit by ourselves. The others can help themselves out of here."

"And we did our fastest to get over there to help them…" Pikachu said. "Guess it's all for naught…"

"Hey, getting all the yukkuris out of here in the shortest time possible is what we wanted too," Pichu told him. "The faster we get this done, the better!"

"Yeah, we even beat up these guards really fast," Diddy said. Lying all around the Smashers were unconscious guards. After Yukari left, the gap in front of the door heading into the storeroom disappeared, so the guards out there were finally able to come in, only for the Smashers to make a short work out of them.

"All right, let's get out of here," Snake suggested. The others nodded and then headed out of the room, and they immediately met members of PETY.

The PETY members immediately pointed their machine guns at the Smashers, and one of them shouted, "Die, abusers!" He opened fire, but the Smashers reacted immediately and got out of the way. Link quickly threw a boomerang at the man's gun and knocked it out of his hand.

"Don't jump to conclusions, will you?!" Link angrily said to him. "Is that what you do? Running around and shooting down anyone without making sure who he or she is first?"

"The only people here are abusers like you! Die, you abuser scum!" the person angrily said as he took out a knife and ran at Link, but Donkey caught his hand from the side when he was close to the Hylian and flung him at the wall.

CRASH!

The other members pointed their guns at the Smashers, and one of them said, "How dare you?!"

"Away with that sort of behavior!" Snake angrily and loudly said to them. "Jumping to conclusions and then regretting what you done is one of the worst mistakes a person can commit! Your hatred for abusers is just as sick as people who hate yukkuris! You storm into this place all of a sudden and try to kill us without asking us who we are first! Is that someone with the right mind is supposed to do?! Have you let your hatred clog up your brain so much that you can no longer differentiate between who is who?!"

"Right!" Pichu said with a nod.

The PETY members lowered their guns and looked at each other. "I think he has a point…" one of them said. "What if they aren't people here? We almost ended up killing those who aren't related to this place!"

"But if they're here, that means they're into abuse as well!" another one claimed. "Those people deserve death just as much as the people working here!"

"Wait a minute! I know some of those people!" said another one suddenly. "Aren't they the ones who came to our base a few days ago?"

"You're right!" another one said.

"Now you're paying attention…" Diddy said.

"Look, if you're here to rescue the yukkuris, don't bother, because we did that for you already," Snake said to the PETY members, "A friend of ours transported all the yukkuris out of here. The only ones that may still need rescuing are ones not in the storeroom, but we don't know where exactly they are. If you want to, we'll leave those to you."

"And if you would please let us out of here now," Pichu added. "We're in a hurry to meet up with our friends and get out of here. You can say hi to your boss for us too, even though we don't agree with the way he's doing things."

After that, the Smashers went past the PETY members and out of the room, and the former shrugged at all that they heard just now.

* * *

The other Smashers and Chen were rushing their way through the factory as fast as they could. "According to the map, the way out is in this direction," Fox said while looking at his smartphone.

After running past a door, Chen came back to look at what was inside, for she was sure she saw someone in there. She saw a PETY member attaching something to the wall. Mario came to her and asked, "What-a are you doing? We should-a be going fast-a!"

"What's that person doing?" the nekotama asked.

The other Smashers came back and looked into the room to see the PETY member. "Knowing the reason they're here for, that guy can't be up to anything good," Falco said. "In fact, he looks like he's planting a bomb."

"A bomb?!" Luigi said in shock. Unfortunately, his voice made the member turn to them, who immediately pointed his machine gun at them.

"Who's there?!" he asked.

"I'm sorry for speaking out so loudly just now…" Luigi said.

"We were planning to make ourselves known to him anyway," Falco said.

"At least you alone are…" Fox said.

The member said to them, "I know you people! You're the same ones who came to our base a few days ago and also became wanted when you turn out to be inhabitants from another dimension!"

Fox walked into the room with his arms raised slightly and said, "Please don't get so acted up! We came here to help the yukkuris. However, knowing the way you PETY do things, you're definitely doing it the rough way, and I believe that you're planting a bomb, right?"

"What does that have to do with you?" the man asked, still pointing his gun at Fox. "This is the boss's command, to blow up this factory."

"Please don't do that. You're going to take the lives of many people here," Fox told him.

"That is what these abusers deserve!" the person said. "Plus, they should've all evacuated already when we came here, so nobody's probably going to get killed."

"Still, I won't let you do that!" Fox said to him.

"Then you're against us! Die!" the person said as he got ready to pull the trigger, but Fox immediately grabbed his gun and pull it out of his hand. He then gave the man a hand swipe to the neck and knocked him out in a single blow.

"You're forcing me to do this," Fox said to him sternly.

The other Smashers came up to the fox, and Parry said, "Am I correct in saying that this is the most violent thing you've done since you came here?"

Fox ignored his question and then went over to the bomb that was stuck onto the wall. He opened it up and started messing with the wires. "Good thing I know a thing or two about defusing bombs," he said. "These kinds are detonated manually using remotes, so there's no fear of tingling with the wrong-colored wire and setting off the whole thing."

"I doubt this is the only bomb," Falco said. "Judging by the size of this factory, they obviously must've planted more bombs."

"You have a point!" Olimar said. "Are we going to defuse all of them?"

"I don't know," Fox said as he finished up defusing the bomb. "In the very least, we should defuse the ones we come across if we want to keep the scale of the destruction from being too big. All right, this one's done. Let's go!" Then the Smashers quickly left the room.

* * *

Arnold, Dr. Blak, Dr. Joe, and some guards were running through the factory, heading for the exit. The place was mostly empty already, for the workers had all evacuated after hearing about PETY's invasion. "This way, chairman!" one of the guards told him. "Since PETY is coming from the east side, we shouldn't run into any of them if we move fast enough."

Suddenly, Raul showed up from the corner, so the group came to a stop. "Well, Arnold Nonymus!" the leader of PETY said to the chairman. "I was on my way to pay you a visit! What coincidence to run into you here!"

"You! How dare you break into this place uninvited?! And you made a mess here too!" Arnold angrily said to him.

Raul pointed his bazooka at him and said, "I wouldn't have done this if this place produced something more productive and acceptable. Now to give you what someone like you deserves!" Suddenly, a claw attached to a chain caught the bazooka from the side and pulled it away. "Hey!" Everyone turned the source of the chained claw and saw that it belonged to Link, who was at a higher part of the room with his group.

"Nobody's dying on our watch here!" he said to Raul.

"How dare you?!" Raul angrily said to him. The guards around Arnold immediately open fired at the leader of PETY, so he quickly ran for cover behind a machine.

"Chairman! This way, fast!" one of the guards said to Arnold before leading him and his two scientists out of the place. The other guards stayed behind to fight Raul. As he was leaving, Arnold turned the Smashers and gave them the finger.

"Geez… We saved that guy, and he rewards us with something like that…" Diddy commented, sounding angry.

"Forget about him…" Snake said. "Honestly saying, I'd probably just ignore him and let him get blown to kingdom come if given the choice…"

The guards ran behind the machine to go after Raul, but they didn't see him at all. Suddenly, PETY's leader appeared from behind them and shot two of the guards in the back. The last guard turned around to shoot him, but was taken out before he had the chance to do so. Donkey and Diddy jumped down from over the railings and ran to him, while the others used the stairs nearby to get to the bottom. Raul pointed his handgun at them and said, "Just which side are you people on anyway?"

"If anything, we're on your side, but we do not agree with the way you're doing things!" Snake said to him.

"Right! You're only going to make things worse with all these destructions and killings!" Link said. "Did we not tell you that those things are what cause the resurrection of the Destructor? Your actions will cause it to speed up!"

"Which is exactly what I want!" Raul said.

"What?!" Pikachu and Pichu said in surprise.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Diddy asked the leader. "Your whole world and even you yourself will be destroyed! Who would want to resurrect the Destructor on purpose?!"

"The stench of this world has reached a point where I can no longer tolerate it! I have come to the conclusion that no matter what we PETY do, we can never get rid of yukkuri abuse," Raul said to them. "When you told me why you came to this world, something came to me… If I cannot rid this world of yukkuri abuse through our current way of doing things, then we shall let this world meet its end! What better way than to rid abuse by allowing all those who participate and take pleasure in it to be wiped out from the face of the universe forever? Using this method, yukkuri abuse will become nonexistent!"

"Are you out of your mind?!" Pichu asked him. "All the yukkuris will die! Even people who love yukkuris will die! Everything in this world will disappear! Where's the merit in that?!"

"Which is exactly why I want to meet your superior," Raul said. "Tell him to get my organization and as many yukkuris as possible out of here. That way, not only can we survive the destruction of this world, but some yukkuris will be able to live on in a new world. It's a sad thing that some of them have to be sacrificed, but some things are inevitable for the sake of greater good."

Snake went up to him and grabbed him by the collar. "You're out of your mind! We are already planning to take all the yukkuris out of here, but we have no intentions whatsoever to resurrect the Destructor! You must know that resurrecting the Destructor may not only mean danger for this world! There's the possibility of him traveling to other worlds to cause havoc too!"

"Just kill him, then!" Raul shouted into his face before forcing his hands away from his collar. "Don't you people have the weapons necessary for doing this? What's wrong with allowing a single world to be destroyed?"

"Whatever the case is, we will not let you speed up the resurrection of the Destructor with your destructions and killings!" Snake said to him. "You can leave the yukkuris to us to get them out of this world, but you better not go and make things worse!"

"I have decided to do this already! I'm going to make it so that you have no choice but to do as I want!" Raul said. "You think you can stop me? Just try and do so! I'm more than willing to go on a murderous rampage and tear down cities and towns just for this to happen! You think I'm joking around? I'm serious! If you want to stop me, then you'll have to kill me! Do you think you can do it? You're here to keep everyone from dying, right? Are you willing to refrain from killing for the sake of greater good? Are you? Are you?!"

"Don't force us!" Snake angrily said to him.

"This guy's out of his mind!" said Donkey, who was explained to clearly by Diddy. "We mustn't let him do it!"

Suddenly, Raul's cell phone rang, so he answered it. "Hello?"

"The yukkuris are all gone!" said his one of his men on the other side. "We met the same people who came to our base a few days ago, and they said they got them out of here already. They're speaking the truth!"

"What?!" Raul then looked at the Smashers, who nodded to show that they did indeed do that. "Okay, I get it. That's good, because we can know detonate this place without fear."

"Detonate this place?! You're going to blow up this place?!" Link said in shock.

"After you're done planting the bombs, get out of here and then detonate it! Okay, over and out!" Raul said before ending the call. "Well, looks like we'll have to cut short our conversation here. It's a shame that we can't come to an agreement on this."

"We will never come to an agreement with you regarding this!" Snake said. "Don't think you're going to get away with your heinous actions! You're no better than a yukkuri abuser and hater!"

"You know? I can go ahead and kill you all right now, but for the sake of the yukkuris, there's still a reason to let you people live," Raul said. "Time will eventually show us the course of actions we must take, so until then…" With that, he quickly ran to search for the exit.

"Geez… That guy is insane…" Diddy commented, and Pichu and Pikachu nodded in agreement.

"Forget about this for now," Snake said. "We have to get out of here before the bombs are detonated!" With that, the Smashers quickly ran to search for the exit.

* * *

Arnold and some of his men emerged from the front door of the factory, where there were several guards and policemen gathered. Some of the guards went to ask he if was all right and such, and then a policeman said to him, "Sir, we have detected that there are explosives planted inside the factory! PETY must be planning to detonate this place!"

"What?!" Arnold said in shock. "How dare they do such a thing?!"

"According to what we found out, there are a total of four bombs, each of them planted close to the four corners of the factory," the policeman continued. "All four of them setting off are enough to blow the entire factory into nothing."

"Then defuse them!" Arnold said. "It shouldn't be hard for your bomb experts to do that, right?"

"We plan to send robots inside to find out what kinds of bomb they are and defuse them," the policeman said.

"Then get to it!" Arnold said. "Also, I want PETY captured too! They'll pay dearly for what they're doing today!"

* * *

"Monster!" shouted a terrified voice, and then the sound of machine gun firing was heard. Some members of PETY ran into the room where both the sounds came from and saw one of their own men in there, breathing heavily and having a look of horror on his face.

"What happened?" a member asked him.

"Over there…" he replied, pointing to the Many-Faced Yu-Tarantula, which had holes all over its body and was immobile, though some of the faces were still muttering phrases like "take it easy" and "can't take it easy".

"Oh my god! What is that?!" another member asked in shock.

"One of their sick experiments, I believe," another one said. "I can't believe that they would transform yukkuris into something as horrifying as this! Poor thing must be suffering in such a grotesque form…"

"I was horrified by the sight of it so much that I open fired without thinking…" the person who shot the Yu-Tarantula said. "I hope it's not anything bad…"

"Maybe it's for the best that we end its suffering," another member told him while placing his hand on his shoulder, "so you don't have to feel bad about it."

"We better get out of here now," yet another member said. "It seems that they've successfully planted the bombs and will blow them up soon, so let's beat it before we get caught in the blast!"

* * *

"That's another bomb down," Fox said as he defused the second bomb they came across. "Okay, I think we should just leave things as they are now. I think defusing two bombs should decrease the scale of destruction somewhat."

"Plus, why waste the opportunity to get out of here when there's a window in this room?" Luigi said, pointing to said window.

The Smashers then headed for the window, opened it, and jumped outside. They quickly ran towards the wall that was surrounding the factory and climbed over it. After all of them got to the other side, Fox dialed his smartphone. "Snake, where are you now?"

"We defused a bomb and are now jumping out the window," the cloned soldier replied while jumping out said window with his group. "I take that your side is outside too, right?"

"Right," Fox said. "Where are you going out from?"

"The east side of the building," replied Snake, "and we can see members of PETY leaving the building from this side too, through a hole they created."

"We're over the wall at the north side already," Fox told him. "We'll meet each other after your group is on the other side too, and then let's get out of here and return to the ranch we made."

"Okay. Over and out!" Snake said before ending the call. The Smashers quickly ran for the wall and got over it, and PETY never saw them leave.

"Okay, let's move out of here and then detonate the bomb," Raul said to his men as he came out of the factory. "Is everyone out here yet?"

A few more members of PETY came running out of the hole on the wall, and then the one standing in front of Raul said, "According to the checklist of names, that's the last of them. We can move out anytime now."

"Then let's leave at once!" Raul said. Immediately, they all got into their trucks and jeeps and drove through the opening they created on the wall surrounding the factory.

* * *

At the southern side of the factory, which was where the front door was, Arnold and the others were quite a distance away from the building. Four bomb experts were using computers to control robots that they sent inside the building. "I've located the room containing one of the bombs," one of them said. "Now to…"

Suddenly, the southwestern side of the factory exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

His monitor immediately showed a static screen, indicating that the room the robot was in was where the explosion occurred, and the robot was obviously blown into pieces. "Guess we're too late…" the bomb expert said. "But strange… How come only a part of the factory blew up? Do they plan to detonate them one by one or what?"

"AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGH!" Arnold screamed at the top of his voice all of a sudden, freaking out everyone around him.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

In the end, Chen's role didn't turn out as big as I hoped for her to have, but she'll still be in the story, so you'll still get to see her in action.

**Trivia:  
**1. You should've noticed this by now. The chapter titles have "the pattern of going from easy to uneasy over and over", if you know what I mean…

2. Arnold and Arthur's names, when combined with their last name, Nonymus, are plays on the word "anon", the general term for humans in yukkuri fandom.


	15. An Easy Challenge

**Not-So-Random-and-Pointless Rambling: **Touhou 13.5: Hopeless Masquerade is announced!

Oh, in case some people would like to know, I'm also talking about Parry when I refer to the Smashers as a whole, even though he's my OC and almost never participate in fights.

**Chapter 15  
An Easy Challenge**

* * *

The Smashers finally made it back to the ranch they built for the yukkuris they rescued, and they saw that the place was populated by more yukkuris from before. "Good to see that they're all right!" Fox commented.

The Smashers walked into the ranch, and some yukkuris immediately ran over to greet them and rubbed themselves against their feet while saying things like "take it easy" and "welcome back". Yukari and Ran came up to them, and the former said to them, "Welcome back! Everything went fine back there?"

"PETY actually made things easier for us," Snake told her. "However, what we learned from Raul distressed us. It turns out that guy is more insane than we thought…"

"By the way, did you count how many yukkuris we rescued from the factory?" Olimar asked.

"Yes, I did count them all," Ran replied. "You have rescued a total of 557 yukkuris. Combined with the amount that was already here, there are a total of 669 yukkuris."

"Wow! We're actually closer to our goal than we thought!" Luigi commented. "At this rate, we'll be able to reach 900 or more yukkuris in no time!"

"But where else do we find-a yukkuris?" Mario asked.

"You can go and get yukkuris found in the wild," Yukari suggested, "though that would make it look like you're capturing and imprisoning them here, so they'll probably have bad impressions about you."

"You have a point," Link said with a nod.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of crying, so they turned to look at the source of the sound and saw a fat reimu ramming down some yukkuris. "This is deibu's easy place!" the fat reimu said. "You trash yukkuris must go away easy!"

"Yu! This is reimu's easy place!" a reimu angrily said to it while flapping its braids. "Deibu go and find your own easy place!"

"Trash yukkuri must not speak to the great deibu like that!" the fat yukkuri said. "Deibu will now teach you a lesson!" It jumped at the reimu to ram it to the ground, and then it jumped at it and squashed it with its weight, a sight that horrified everyone. "Haha! This is what trash yukkuris get for coming against the great deibu!"

Seeing such a sight, the yukkuris immediately moved far away from the deibu, fearing that they would become its next victims. Link angrily walked up to the deibu and said to it, "It's you again! How can you do such a horrible thing?! How can you kill your own kind?!"

The deibu turned to him and said, "It's mister geezer from before! Mister geezer did not give the great deibu any sweet-sweets! Hurry up and fork over sweet-sweets already!"

Enraged, Link picked up the deibu by its head and said to it, "Listen, Mr. Foul-Mouthed Fatty! Just because you're bigger than the other yukkuris here doesn't mean you can act like you're so awesome and such! You trash talked to me back at the factory, and you're still doing it!"

"Mister geezer must let go of deibu at once!" the fat reimu shouted. "Get your dirty hands off the great deibu at once!"

"Not until you apologize for what you've done!" Link shouted at it, but the deimu kept on shouting for him to let go of it.

Fox went up to Link and said, "Enough, Link! There's no point in arguing with it. You're basically arguing with an animal, and you know that most animals lack a sense of right and wrong." He took the deibu from his hand and placed it onto the ground.

"Mister geezer must be taught a lesson!" the deibu said before hurling itself at Link's leg and ramming it, but due size difference, nothing happened at all. "Die, scum!"

"Enough already!" Link shouted, and out of rage, he kicked the deibu away.

The deibu landed with a thud, and then it glared at Link and shouted, "MISTER GEEZER HAS PISSED OFF THE GREAT DEIBU! YOU MUST DIE EASY! RAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" The yukkuri roared at the top of its voice as it jumped at Link and rammed his leg with a force that was actually strong enough to make him fall back. After that, it rammed into Fox with a force that made him take some steps back.

"Whoa! Stop it already!" Fox, now getting angry, said to it.

"Everyone must listen to the great deibu!" the deibu loudly proclaimed. "All you people and yukkuris are scum that must work as deibu's slaves! Now hurry up and give me lots of sweet-sweets! Deibu is hungry!"

Suddenly, Falco picked up the deibu by its head and angrily said to it, "Don't you think you have enough yet?! Listen! No matter how much tantrum you throw or how angry you get, you won't get what you want with a temper like that! Your temper is pissing me off! If given the permission, I would be more than willing to get rid of you!"

"Ugly mister bird has no right to trash talk to the great deibu!" the deibu shouted into his face. "Take your smelly hand off me at once!" Enraged, Falco flung the deibu forward. Despite getting injured from the fall, the deibu still got back up and glared at the Smashers and the inhabitants of Gensokyou with an angry face. "Deibu is going to kill all of you! All of you! All of you!"

"That yukkuri is totally insane!" Donkey commented.

"I know, right?" Diddy said.

Yukari caught the yukkuri by its body and lifted it up to the level of her face and said to it in a threatening voice, "Don't get so cocky of yourself, you scum yukkuri. We saved your lives, so you better show some respect to your rescuers."

"Ugly mister hag must shut your mouth at once!" the deibu shouted at her. Hearing this, Ran and Chen's hair "stood of straight" as their faces became horrified.

Yukari's face, while not showing anger or annoyance, implied that she did not take what the deibu said lightly at all. "Is it just me… or did I feel a really powerful and intimidating aura coming from her…?" Link said.

"I think-a I feel eet too…" Mario said.

The deibu continued to throw insults at Yukari, and all of a sudden, the demon tightened her grip so hard that fillings immediately leaked out of the deibu's mouth. "Anything else you would like to say?" Yukari said in an intimidating voice.

"Ugly… old… hag… Let… go… of…" The deibu never got to finish its phrase, as a burst of energy came out from Yukari's hand and completely obliterated the yukkuri, sending pieces of its body and fillings flying all over the place.

All the Smashers except for Snake and Falco had wide-opened eyes in shock at what they saw. "What… What have you… done…?" Olimar said.

"That was a scum yukkuri," Ran explained. "As you can see, it's not going to admit it is wrong, no matter how angry you get at it or threaten it."

"Mamamia… You told-a me about-a scum yukkuris before, but-a I neva thought that-a they would be theez horrible…" Mario said.

"So… this decreased the number of yukkuris we have to 668," Snake said.

"Don't worry," Yukari told the Smashers, "it's just one yukkuri, so finding a replacement is way too easy. Plus, you wouldn't have liked it if a scum like that stayed around here any longer, would you?"

* * *

Two different kinds of voices, screams of rage and screams of agony, were coming from behind a metal door that various employees of Yu-Abuse Incorporated's main office were looking at. "He's really pissed off… Really…" one of the employees said.

"After what happened today, it's obvious that he would be really mad," another one said. "However, it's true that this is probably the loudest he's ever screamed, not to mention the longest he's been inside."

Occasionally, they would hear the sound of something hitting the metal door from behind. As the screaming went on, everyone wondered how exactly the scene was like inside and how wild Arnold was behaving.

The firefighters had just finished putting out the fire at the southwestern part of the factory, and the cleanup crew was cleaning up the place. At the same time, bomb experts went to look for the remaining bombs, and they were surprised to learn that they were already disarmed and wondered who did this.

* * *

Dr. Blak made his way through the unharmed parts of the factory. He went into the lab and then checked the Yu-Tarantula, only to find out that it was no longer showing signs of life, as its body had turned grayish. He slowly shook his head and wondered how Dr. Joe would take this news, and then he went to another part of the lab.

He went over to an elevator and took it to a room built underneath the factory. Once there, he stepped out and smiled when he saw a certain thing there. "Good to see that nothing happened to this!"

* * *

"So you finally came back," Rupert, who was seated on the sofa, said as Arnold came into his own office. "You broke the record! You've been in there for more than an hour! I bet you really took your time killing more than a hundred yukkuris in there! Hoohoo!"

"Didn't bother to count, and don't care!" Arnold angrily said as he walked up to his desk, pressed the button, and then killed the kopatchouli that appeared before sitting down on his chair. "I can't believe even after all that, I still feel angry! It barely did anything to release my anger!"

"Like you're never angry to begin with! To my memory, every time I see you, you always have a look of grumpiness on your face! Hahaha!" Rupert told him.

Arnold's secretary, who was standing next to his desk, asked the chairman, "Are you hungry? Would you like to eat anything?"

"Ate already!" Arnold angrily replied.

"Okay, I take that you had your fill by eating the yukkuris in there," the secretary said.

Arnold leaned forward on his desk and thought of what happened today: the Smashers sneaking into his factory and releasing all the yukkuris and then PETY coming and blowing up a quarter of his factory. The more he thought about this, the angrier he became, and eventually, he slammed his fists against the desk and let out of loud cry. When he stood up, his secretary asked him, "You're going to that room to release your anger again?"

"That won't work!" he loudly replied. "I need to put an end to this once and for all! Those outsiders! PETY! Those two groups are huge thorns on my side, and I'm going to make sure that they regret everything they did! PETY shall pay for ruining my factory! They're the biggest menace right now! I'm going to do the public here a huge favor by getting rid of them!"

"What do you plan to do?" the secretary asked him.

"Those people will see! I'm going to make sure that tomorrow is the last day they ever exist in this world!" Arnold replied.

* * *

That night, Snake was in his tent, browsing the Internet using a laptop provided by Yukari. "The president really did make such a decree…" Snake said as he looked at the news article about the decree of stopping both sides of yukkuri treatment from interfering with each other that he found in a news site's archive. "The reason for this is exactly as he told us too…"

While looking at this news article, he noticed another one about terrorist bombings that caused massive destruction and took the lives of several people. According to the article, three bombs detonated shortly one after another, and the locations of the explosions were not very far from each other. More than a thousand people were reported to have been killed, and several thousands were injured as well. The people behind the bombings were never found, and it was not known who did it as well.

One thing that that grabbed Snake's attention was the date that the bombing occurred. It happened the day before the president established the decree. Such a thing made him wonder, because it didn't seem right to make such a decree immediately the day after such a tragedy happened. People were mourning about the loss of lives, so the timing of the speech was inappropriate. Even though the president did give a speech of comfort and encouragement on the same day, it was still too weird for him to establish the decree on the same day, and right after that speech as well.

Snake wondered if it was simply a coincidence that the bombing happened on the day before the president decided to establish the decree, and he didn't bother to postpone it to another day. Snake couldn't shake off the thought that there was more to this than it seemed.

* * *

Morning had come, and Raul was up on his feet and ready to start the day. After cleaning himself, he sat down in his base's dining quarters to eat breakfast, and he had turned on the TV too, hoping to see more reports about the assault he and his men launched at the factory yesterday.

He was highly disappointed that things did not go as planned yesterday, as only one of the four bombs exploded. He had made sure that the bombs were all working perfectly, so the only logical conclusion was that someone disarmed them. He wasn't sure who did it, though he had ideas. It was either those "outsiders" or bomb experts. Whatever the case was, he was not happy with the result, so he started to brainstorm on what sort of chaos he would cause next in order to achieve his goal—the resurrection of the Destructor.

"I almost forgot!" he said in his mind all of a sudden. "I have to find out who the superior of those outsiders are first! There's no merit in resurrecting the Destructor and not having a way to escape his destruction, so I have to keep an eye on those outsiders and find out what exactly there plan is."

As he was eating breakfast while watching the news report, which didn't report anything interesting at all, Arnold suddenly appeared on screen, much to the surprise of everyone in the dining quarters.

* * *

Meanwhile, the same thing had happened to all the TVs in the city. Arnold was visible on the screen of every single television, and people where curious about was happening.

To the people in the TV station, however, this was not something to be curious about, as Arnold himself was in that very station, making a public announcement of sorts.

"Attention, PETY! Especially you, Raul McLane!" the chairman of Yu-Abuse Incorporated loudly said in a voice that expressed anger. "Don't think you can get away with what you and your men did to my factory yesterday! You know I'm not the kind of person to let something concerning me go by without doing anything! How bold of you to mess up my factory!"

"Yeah, I dare!" Raul said, standing up from his seat. "So what are you going to do about it?"

"I want you to hear my message clearly!" Arnold continued. "This afternoon, I'm going to gather several yukkuris at the abandoned construction site, the 30-story building, located at Route 30, and kill all of them using bombs! I have gotten agreement from the landowner there to demolish that architecture, as it is no longer needed! I know you have a soft spot for yukkuris, so you'll definitely come and rescue them! They will all be placed on the fifteenth floor, and your goal is to rescue them all before the bombs go off!"

"So you're issuing a challenge to me, eh?" said Raul, sounding as if was willing to accept the challenge.

"Let's see if you will succeed or die trying!" Arnold said. "I'm going to see how far you are willing to go for the sake of these lowlife trashes! I will be at the architecture too, making sure that you're there! If you don't, then not only will these yukkuris all get killed, but I will also launch an attack against your base! Don't think that I have absolutely no idea where your base is! If I want to find it, I will find it!"

After that, the broadcast ended, and all the televisions resumed broadcasting the usual stuff.

"It's a trap, boss!" one of Raul's men said to him. "You mustn't fall for it!"

"It's obvious it's a trap!" Raul said. "However, we cannot hear this and do nothing to help those yukkuris. I know that there are chances that there are actually no yukkuris there, or they are all fake ones. Still, it's not something that we can ignore. We, PETY, are willing to risk our lives for the sake of yukkuris. Not even death threats and traps will shake our determination! All right, gather the men! We must survey that place and gather as much information as possible in order to win Arnold's 'little game'!"

* * *

The Smashers were finishing up breakfast that was prepared by Ran and brought over with the help of Yukari. "So… what's our next plan?" Falco asked while finishing up his coffee.

"No idea…" Fox said. "Don't know if there's any other place where we can find a large amount of yukkuris."

"If there really is no other place to check, then we should just find yukkuris out in the wild and bring them here," Link sugggested.

"That may take a while, unless we find a place where a large amount of them gather," Olimar said. "To my knowledge, there are no known places where a large amount of wild yukkuris gather…"

"By the way, I wonder what Master Hand and the others are up to," Pikachu said, changing the topic. "You think we should get in contact with them to see how progress is?"

"Not a bad-a idea if you ask-a me," Mario said with a nod. Just then, Mario's cell phone rang, so he answered it. "Hello?"

"It's me, Master Hand," said the Hand's voice from the other side. "And good morning, by the way."

"Masta Hand!" Mario said in surprise. "We were just-a talking about-a you! We were wondering about-a how your progress eez."

"Things are going pretty well, I think," Master Hand told him. "Anyway, that's no important right now. While I was eating breakfast and watching TV, a broadcast which I'm sure will grab your attention happened."

"What-a eez eet?" Mario asked.

"Someone made a broadcast telling PETY to rescue yukkuris from an abandoned construction site located on Route 30. He said that the building will be detonated by bombs if they do not do so in time. Basically, he's challenging them to rescue the yukkuris or die trying. I'd figure that you probably can't watch TV from where you are, so I told you about it."

"Really? Thanks for da info!" Mario said. "I'm sure that-a theez will come in handy! Where are you, by the way?"

"I'll let you know after work here progressed some more, though I'll just say that I'm in this world too," Master Hand replied. "Anyway, that guy wants PETY there at afternoon. Remember, it's on Route 30, wherever that is. Anyway, I have to get busy with our master plan now, so see ya! Good luck to you all!" Then the call ended.

After that, Mario told the others about what Master Hand told him, and Snake said, "Okay, now we know where we should be heading to next. It doesn't matter whether or not it concerns us; there are yukkuris to rescue."

"Plus, if we don't keep an eye on PETY, who knows what sort of chaos they're going to cause again," Link said. "After hearing about Raul's intention, we can no longer keep our eyes away from him."

"Who do you think is proposing this challenge to them?" Pichu asked.

"The only person I can think of who hates PETY so much and is trying to put an end to them using this method is that chairman," Falco said.

"You mean Arnold?" Luigi asked, and the bird nodded in response.

"Makes sense," Fox said with a nod. "After what happened yesterday, Arnold definitely wants to get back at PETY. However, I wonder why he didn't go after them directly."

"Guess there's no fun in dealing with things so fast and directly," Diddy said.

"So, have you all decided to head over there?" Yukari said while drinking coffee. "We'll continue to keep an eye on this place for you, and Chen can go with you too if she wants to."

"Thanks! Some help would be nice!" Fox said. "Okay, everyone, we better get there early. That way, we can get a better understanding of the situation there and also come up with a plan to rescue the yukkuris and prevent PETY and Arnold from getting into unnecessary skirmishes."

"I'd rather let them fight and put each other to an end," Falco said. "That's for the best of us and also the people here, I'm sure."

"No, we don't want anyone to lose their lives," Fox told him. "Also, we should stop the construction site from being blown up too. Remember that the Destructor doesn't only thrive from deaths, but also from destruction of non-living things."

* * *

The clock's hands struck twelve. Arnold was standing at the edge of the fifteenth floor of the abandoned building at Route 30's construction site, looking down at the street with a pair of binoculars. Eventually, he saw trucks and jeeps gathering at the part of the street just outside the site. He lowered the binoculars and said, "Good! Welcome to your grave, PETY!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

The scum yukkuri was put into this story in order to avoid causing a commotion in the yukkuri fandom, as those devoted to the fandom wouldn't like it if all humans are portrayed as "mess up" ones. If you're familiar with the fandom, then you'll know that there are corrupted yukkuris like the one you saw here. I can't ignore that part of the fandom, lest the readers in the Google Yukkuri fan fiction group where I also post this story become offended.

Also, there is a certain method for calling those kinds of yukkuris, but I want to keep my vocabulary clean, so I refuse to call them in such a way. Lastly, yukkuris refer to pretty much everything as "mister", regardless of gender.


	16. Fall of the Uneasy One

Sorry for the wait… Procrastination is one reason, like always, and another reason is that I had quite a bit of writer's block. That's what you get for not planning things out fully beforehand…

**Chapter 16  
Fall of the Uneasy One**

* * *

_FLASHBACK_

Arnold and his men were gathered together outside the construction site at Route 30, where he was giving the latter instructions on what to do. "You gunners are to hide in places where nobody can see you," he told them, "and when I give the order, you are to shoot down all the members of PETY! As for Raul, detonate the bombs when I give the order. I will make him think that the bombs will only explode when time is up, but in reality, they explode through either time up or manual detonation. Either way, he's not going to make his way out of this alive, as well as the yukkuris on the fifteenth floor!"

Unknown to them all, the Smashers and Chen were hiding in a nearby alleyway, listening carefully to what they were saying. "I feel bad for them," Falco said. "They are so well prepared, but in the end, we're going to mess things up for them. Still, I think it's better that we let them go ahead and, perhaps, kill each other. It makes things easier for us."

"I don't agree with that," Fox said. "We should step in to make sure that they don't take things too far. Okay, now that we know what their plan is, we have to interfere with them, but make sure not to arouse the attention of them all, okay?" The others nodded in response.

_END OF FLASHBACK_

* * *

Raul and his men got out of their vehicles and stood in front of the entrance to the construction site, looking up to see the top of the unfinished architecture. One of his men looked at it with a pair of binoculars, and Raul asked him, "Do you see anything?"

"I see Arnold on what I think is the fifteenth floor," he replied. "He's looking back at us using a pair of binoculars. He's now using a megaphone to speak to us."

"So you came like I told you to do so, and on time too!" Arnold spoke into the megaphone. "You really do have a death wish, don't you? You came here despite knowing that it may be the end of you! If you really think you have what it takes to rescue the yukkuris here, then feel free to do so!"

* * *

Link looked out the window of a building that was directly across the architecture, and lying next to him was a man, knocked out and with a machine gun next to him. "So much for your mass killing idea…" the Hylian said.

Hidden in an alleyway at the bottom of the same building, Olimar and his Pikmin were standing next to another knocked out man. In the Hocotatian's hand was a remote control with a single button. "Well, there goes the manual detonation of those bombs, wherever they are placed…" he thought. "Let's hope they managed to defuse them all…"

* * *

Back with PETY, Raul asked one of his men for a megaphone, and when he got it, he spoke into it to Arnold, "What makes you think this isn't a trap? For all I know, you've prepared lots of death traps to get me killed! You said this building has bombs, and knowing you, you're going to detonate it while I'm in there and before I rescue the yukkuris!"

"Whether or not you want to believe me is up to you!" Arnold said to him. "I can simply detonate the bombs right now and kill all those yukkuris! Of course, that is after I make my escape using my helicopter! I'm not dumb enough to detonate the bombs while I'm still here! How about this? I won't detonate the bombs until I fly away on my helicopter, and consider the time I take to get to the top floor to make my escape your time limit for rescuing the yukkuris. You can't simply take the yukkuris and run either, because the cage they're in is pinned to the floor. Furthermore, I have placed a special kind of bomb on the cage that will detect whether or not the other bombs are defused, and if they aren't, it will explode if you try to open the cage. The only way to free them safely is to defuse all the other bombs first! The bombs can be found in most floors, and it's up to you to find them all!"

"You're trying to play a game with me, eh?" Raul said. "Very well, I shall play your game and win, and then I will go after you! I'm going to make sure that you don't get away with this alive today!"

"I can say the same to you! I hope you try your worst and die with these yukkuris!" Arnold said. "Also, you are to come alone and cannot bring any weapons with you!"

"And if I don't comply?" Raul asked.

"You'll wish that you did comply!" Arnold replied.

Hearing this, Raul felt uneasy, so he said to his men, "Be careful… He's definitely set up traps for you all. Make sure to keep an eye on your surroundings while I go in there."

"Are you sure you can do fine by yourself?" the man he spoke to asked him.

"Don't worry; I'm not one to be taken down by him so easily. Rest assure that I'll make it back safe and sound with the yukkuris rescued, not to mention with Arnold dead!" Raul told him. After that, Raul gave all the weapons he had to him and then stepped into the construction site, and his men wished him luck.

Arnold lowered his binoculars and said, "Good! Step into your grave! You will never leave this place alive!" He then turned around to began making his way to the top of the architecture, and a large cage containing several yukkuris cramped together inside was behind him, several of them complaining about the lack of space.

"Yu… Can't take it easy like this… Sanae wants space to move around…"

"Reimu is hungry…"

"Where is rin's wheelbarrow? Rin cannot take it easy like this!"

"Mukyu…"

Arnold spit in their direction when he walked past it and then continued heading for the staircase not too far away.

* * *

Raul looked around to see if he could find any bombs. He noticed one attached to one of the metal supports, so he ran up to it to defuse it, only to find out that it had already been opened up and the wires in there cut. "How come? Who did this?" he wondered. "Arnold couldn't have possibly done something like this himself if he wants me to defuse them… Just what exactly is he up to?"

He then looked around to see if there were anymore bombs, and then he saw another one attached to another support. When he went up to it, he saw that it was defused too. "Why do I have the feeling that it's them…?" Raul thought. "If it's really them…" Then he quickly headed for the staircase nearby to get to the next floor.

Once up there, he looked around for more bombs. He approached a large hollow that was in the center of the architecture and saw another one attached to the support next to the edge. Like with the other two bombs, this one was also defused. "I take that all the bombs are already defused by them already," he said to himself. "If that's the case, I'll have to thank them for this and focus on getting to Arnold instead. He probably doesn't know about this."

* * *

"Nice design this building has," Snake said, looking up the hollow in the center of the architecture. "I wonder what this place was supposed to be…"

Like most buildings, this one was square-shaped, but there was a large hollow going down from the top all the way to the bottom, so when one was to look at the building from above, it would look like a square with a similarly-shaped hole in the center of it.

Suddenly, Snake's smartphone rang, so he answered it. "This is Snake."

"Snake, Raul just rescued the yukkuris on the fifteenth floor and is on his way to the thirtieth floor," said the voice of Fox. "While he hasn't seen any one of us, I think he found out that we're secretly helping him, so after freeing the yukkuris from the cage, he left them alone and continued on his way. Knowing him, he's definitely going after Arnold, who should be unaware of all this."

"I get what you want me to do," Snake said. "I'll get to it!"

* * *

On the fifteenth floor, Fox was speaking to Snake through his smartphone, while Chen, Falco, Donkey, and Diddy were busy putting the yukkuris Raul released into boxes. It took three relatively large boxes to rescue them all, though only two are filled up.

After Falco closed and tied up his box, Chen got onto the top of it, grabbed it by the rope, and then flew off the building with it. "Be careful!" Falco said to her. "Fox, we're done here, so let's get going!"

"Okay," Fox said as he ended his call. Fox and Falco carried one box together, while Donkey carried the last one by himself, and then they went down the staircase. Diddy carried with him a spare box.

"I know this building isn't complete, but you'd think they'd still create a simple elevator for it!" Falco said. "Won't the construction workers get tired running up and down the stairs like this?!"

"Might as well keep moving if you have time to complain!" Fox said to him.

* * *

"WHAT?! THOSE OUTSIDERS DID WHAT?!" Arnold screamed into his cell phone in disbelief.

"It turns out that the outsiders defused all the bombs before Raul came here!" said the voice of one of his men on the other side of the phone. "I also saw some of them taking the yukkuris Raul freed out of the building!"

"DARN IT! THOSE ACCURSED OUTSIDERS! THEY'VE RUINED EVERYTHING!" Arnold screamed in rage.

"Raul is running to where you are now! You have to get to the helicopter fast!" the man told him.

"I don't need you to tell me that!" Arnold said as he began running for the next staircase. He was on the 23rd floor when he got this call.

Meanwhile, Raul was on the 21st floor, running as fast as he could. "Thanks to those outsiders, I'm able to get even with Arnold without having to play his silly game!" he said. "Just you wait, Arnold! I'm not letting you get out of here!" He spotted a lead pipe next to the staircase leading to the next floor, so he picked it up before continuing on his way.

* * *

Snake was pacing around on the 29th floor, waiting for either Arnold or Raul to show up. When he heard the sound of footsteps, he turned to the staircase coming up from the lower floor and saw Arnold rushing up it in panic and heading for the last staircase.

Arnold tripped when he was close to the staircase, and he cursed angrily as he got back up and then ran up it. Once at the top, he ran for the helicopter that was waiting for him close to the edge.

"Arnold!" shouted a voice all of a sudden. Arnold turned to the voice and saw that Raul had reached the roof.

"This doesn't count!" Arnold shouted at him. "Those accursed outsiders ruined everything by helping you! You haven't won at all! You haven't!"

"It's over for you!" Raul said as he approached the chairman. "I wasn't expecting their help at all, but thanks to them, I'm able to get even with you for trying to put an end to me! Now you'll pay for all the yukkuris you've ever killed in your lifetime! Die!" Raul was going to run forward, but Snake suddenly threw himself at him from behind and pinned him to the floor. "Hey! What are you doing?! Let go!"

"You're not having things your way here so easily!" Snake said to him as he used all his strength to keep him from getting back up.

Arnold saw this as the perfectly opportunity to run for his helicopter. Once inside, the helicopter slowly rose into the air, and the chairman, standing at the door, shouted at them, "Don't think you've beaten me! I'm going to be the one laughing in the end! I'm going to continue to think of ways to destroy you people! I will not allow people like you who fight for yukkuris to get what you want or exist! Never!"

"Let go!" Raul shouted before finally being able to get Snake off his back, and then he ran towards the helicopter to try to grab onto it, but by the time he got to where it used to be, it was already too high into the air for him to jump at. Raul and Snake ran to the edge of the architecture and watched the helicopter fly away.

The chairman continued to taunt and throw insults at them as the helicopter flew farther and farther from the building. "Well, that's one annoyance out of the way," Snake said.

Raul turned to him with a look of anger and said, "You! If it weren't for you, I would've put an end to that miserable pile of garbage already! You ruined my ultimate chance at killing him!"

"I may not like that guy, but as far as I'm concerned, the public doesn't see him as a menace," Snake said. "Going by that alone, killing him is not a justifiable act, so I cannot allow you to do this!"

"Enough! I have enough of you people getting in my way!" Raul angrily said. "I believe you people are responsible for defusing three of the bombs in the factory! This would be the second time you've kept me from destroying Yu-Abuse Incorporated if that is the case!"

"Yes, we did defuse three of the bombs in the factory," Snake told him. "Your ways are not justifiable, so it's obvious that we would try to stop you. We're going to stop you from resurrecting the Destructor as well!"

"Then you give me no choice but to kill you! Anyone who does not agree with me is against me, and anyone who is against me must die!" Raul angrily said before charging at Snake and swinging the lead pipe at him, but the cloned soldier dodged it. The latter kept on moving back while dodging Raul's pipe swings, but he forgot about the staircase behind him and thus tumbled to the bottom of it.

"Ow…" Snake groaned as he slowly got back up. He looked up to see Raul running down the staircase and jumping off from the top of the last few steps to hit him with the pipe, but he got out of the way in time. When Raul swung it at him again, he caught the pipe and pulled it off his hand before punching him across the face. Before Raul had the chance to fully recover from the blow, Snake went up to him and punched and kneed him rapidly. The last punch sent him falling down next to an open toolbox that was left behind by the construction workers.

Raul looked at the toolbox and saw a wrench, so he picked up and ran at Snake to hit him, but the latter avoided his attacks. Snake eventually stepped to the side to avoid a hit and then restrained his arms and unarmed him in a matter of seconds. Holding him back by his arms, Snake said to him, "We appreciate the fact that you want to save yukkuris, but the way you're doing things is not correct! Since the public sees as you as a menace, we'll hand you over to the authorities! They will decide what to do with you!"

"You won't take me down so easily!" Raul angrily said before struggling fiercely to break free. The both of them spun and moved around until Raul finally broke free and make Snake take some steps back, and then Raul punched him in the face really hard.

Snake spun around and tried to regain his balance from being punched. While doing so, he took several steps forward and went close to the edge of the hollow, but he managed to come to a stop in time. Raul charged forward and pushed him off the edge. Fortunately for the latter, there was a rope hanging nearby, and he grabbed onto it and swung forward in a large circle, going around a metal support in the process. Raul turned around to watch Snake making his return. Snake swung into him and landed both feet against his abdomen, kicking him off the edge.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" the leader of PETY screamed as he fell towards the bottom of the hollow in the center of the building, and Snake, after having landed, looked down with a shocked face at Raul falling. "Oh god…"

* * *

The members of PETY and the Smashers were shocked beyond words. Lying in the center of the architecture was Raul, completely motionless, limbs sprawled out, and eyes wide open. Everyone approached him and looked at him for several seconds without saying anything, and then one of the PETY members said, "The boss… He's… He's dead…"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I hope the revelation in this chapter made up for the wait. Just so you know, the story is reaching its climax soon, so please look forward to it!

God bless you all!


	17. Protest It Easy

**Not-So-Pointless Rambling: **The Touhou manga Forbidden Scrollery is out! Let's welcome Kosuzu Motoori to the cast! Hooray!

Sorry... Didn't realize that several days had already gone by since the last chapter...

**Chapter 17  
Protest It Easy**

* * *

News of Raul's death quickly spread throughout the place, and the members of PETY either ran to unknown places or were arrested by the police that came not too long afterwards.

In his office, Arnold was pleased with what he saw on the news, but being a man who always showed an angry face, it was hard to tell from his expression. "Ha! See? I told you I would be the last man laughing in the end!" he said. "He really did step into his grave in the end!"

Rupert, who was seated on the sofa to the left of him, said, "Guess you should thanks those aliens for that!"

"Why should I thank those outsiders?" Arnold said without looking away from the TV. "Those people took my spotlight! The news said they are responsible for Raul's death and possibly the end to PETY! I should be the one to get the spotlight! All the news report said about me is that I set up everything in the first place! They didn't even say something like none of this would happen if it weren't for me coming up with it in the first place! This makes me mad!"

"That's just like you! Hahahah!" Rupert laughed.

"With PETY out of the way, it's time to deal with those outsiders!" Arnold said, still looking at the screen. "It's about time I put those people to place!"

* * *

The Smashers were back at the ranch, where they told Eiki, Yukari, and Ran everything that happened. "It was perhaps for the best, though the loss of life is still not something to rejoice over," Eiki said.

"See? I told you that it was for the best that Raul died!" Falco told his comrades. "That madman wanted to resurrect the Destructor and destroy this world! We couldn't convince him, so the best way was to put an end to him! Of course, you're going to tell me that we can simply have him thrown into prison, where he would no longer be able to do anything, but what's to say that he wouldn't try to escape or try to do that again after being released? Plus, it's not like the death of one person is going to make a huge difference. It'll probably speed up the time of the resurrection by a day or so only."

"Yes, we get it," Snake said to him. "You think it's better off that he's dead, so please stop bragging about how happy you are that it happened, okay?"

"Anyway, what has happened has happened, so there's no point in talking about this anymore," Link said. "On the bright side, we have one lesser madman to deal with, so like what Eiki and Falco said, it was perhaps for the best that such a dangerous man be gone from this world. Before Arnold tries to mess with us next, we should try to gather up to 900 yukkuris in the shortest time possible and then get them out of this world before things get too tough."

"You're right," Olimar said. "By the way, the number of yukkuris we rescued from the architecture is 33. Not very much, actually… We have a total of 701 yukkuris now."

"At least-a 199 more yukkuris before we reach our goal," Mario said, "but-a I think-a we should have more than that-a, in case… Well, eetz always betta to have spare stuff, you know…"

"You have point," Olimar agreed with a nod. "Now we come to the question of where else we can find yukkuris."

Suddenly, Mario's cell phone rang, so he answered it. "Hello?"

"It's me, Master Hand," said the voice of the Hand. "I know it's not even been a day yet, but I feel that I should let you know what our plan is now."

"Okay," Mario said with a nod. "What-a eez eet?"

"Tell Yukari to bring you guys here," Master Hand said. "She knows where we are. I'll explain everything after you're all here."

"Okey-dokey," Mario said, and then he hung the phone and told Yukari what the Hand said.

"Okay," the demon of boundaries said with a nod. "I've been to the place where they're building the thing necessary for bringing the yukkuris out of here, so I can take you there in an instant." She reached out her hand to the side and made a gap appear, and then the Smashers stepped into it.

After coming out of the gap, the Smashers found themselves in front of what appeared to be a train station. "Master Hand is here?" Pikachu curiously said.

"From the look of the paintjob," Fox said, observing the architecture, "this train station seems to have been abandoned for quite some time. Looks like a great place for doing things in secret if you ask me."

The Smashers walked into the train station and followed the sound of metal being hit against until they came to a train that was being worked on by Nitori and several metallic beings that came in red, blue, green, and yellow varieties—alloys.

Master Hand showed up and approached the Smashers. "Hey guys! Nice to have you all here!" he said to them.

"Am I correct in saying that your plan involves that train?" Luigi asked, looking at said train.

"It is exactly as you said!" Master Hand said. "Allow me to explain everything to you now!" He then turned to the train. "The yukkuris you rescued will all be put into that train. We have made sure that there are enough carts and also big enough space to contain more than 900 yukkuris."

"And?" Fox asked.

"The head of the train is installed with the device used for detecting all the yukkuris in this world and then transporting them out of here," Master Hand continued. "As I told you before, a large amount of yukkuris would be needed if you want the device to be able to detect every single yukkuri in this world. However, speed is also required, and we believe that this kind of train moving at max speed is enough to get the job done."

"Why is speed required?" Pichu asked.

"I don't think some of you are going to get what I said if I go into scientific details…" Master Hand replied. "Plus, the author can't come up with good scientific details too, so I'll give a simple example using the DeLorean from Back to the Future. You should know that film, I believe. When the DeLorean hits the speed of 88 miles per hour, it will travel through time. The same can be said for this train. After installing the necessary parts into it, it will be able to travel into the space between dimensions and also make all the yukkuris in this world get transported. In this train's case, it'll have to move at a speed of 100 miles per hour in order to activate the transportation process."

"Nice example!" Luigi commented.

"But even by today's standard of technology, this process is something that is very hard to pull off perfectly," Master Hand continued, "so the transportation won't be instantaneous. Meaning to say, the train will have to move at that speed for about ten minutes before it can enter the space between dimensions, and even when in there, it'll have to keep on moving without stopping at all before it finally reaches its destination. If it were to stop inside the space between dimensions…"

"Do you get trapped in there forever…?" Pichu asked, sounding nervous.

"Nah, you just have to start up the train, get it to move at 100 miles per hour, and travel for the same amount of time again before the process restarts. Also, the things that are being transported will find themselves in the same place until they get transported again," Master Hand said. "Just keep on driving through the space between dimensions until you finally get there."

"I understand very well how it works now," Fox said with a nod.

"So the lot of you will have to keep on gathering yukkuris," Master Hand told them. "Going at this rate, we should be able to finish up the train in less than five days."

"That's pretty soon!" Olimar said. "Let's hope everything goes smoothly until then!"

"Want to go in there and take a look?" Master Hand asked them. "This train is actually bigger than it looks from the outside! I'm actually able to fit inside! Though there's not space for me to move around…"

The Smashers walked up to the train and entered through the door of the fourth cart from the head. In there, they saw some alloys setting up and cleaning up cages that were lined along both sides of the interior. "I take that these are for storing the yukkuris, right?" Luigi asked.

"Yes," Master Hand replied through the window that was behind the backside of the cage on one side. "Each cart can contain about 100 yukkuris, but in case you find more than that, we've prepared extra carts. It's a good thing that there happens to be a train like this in this abandoned station! Much better than having to build a new one from scratch!"

"By the way, if speed is required for activating the transportation process, why don't you just use a plane?" Falco asked. "Planes can move faster than trains."

"Can't find any abandoned planes or ones large enough to contain all the yukkuris," Master Hand replied. "We're really lucky to encounter this abandoned train station and this train, so we should make do with whatever we have at hand."

The Smashers then explored every single cart of the train, and they went to the head last. In the control room, Rikako and some alloys were working on the control panel, which was drastically remodeled to look more high-tech, resembling something one would find inside spaceships. "And here we have the most important part of the train, I believe," Link said.

"You can't be any more correct than that!" Master Hand said from the door.

Fox walked up to the control panel to inspect it. "Can't believe that you built this in just two days! Stuff like this normally takes a long time to build."

"I had lots of help," Master Hand told him. "Rikako is a true genius! I dare say that she's smarter than me when it comes to science and technology!"

"I've always preferred those over magic, even though I am skilled in the latter," Rikako said without looking up from a blueprint. "Unfortunately, Gensokyo is a place where magic prospered more than science, and most of its inhabitants have limited or almost no knowledge of the latter. Sometimes I feel like moving out of there to live in the outside world, where I can put my knowledge of science and technology to better use, but I guess it's due to being born in Gensokyo that makes me want to stay there more. I thought it would be a great idea if I work to improve technology there. If only the people there were more interested in it…"

"Living in a place where technology is primitive and limited must stink a lot…" Snake said.

"Luckily, a few of its inhabitants realize how much better life in the outside world is, so they have access to a large amount of electricity, modern equipments, and the Internet," Rikako said.

"You have Internet there?" Falco asked.

"Like I said, only a few people have access to it," she said.

Soon afterwards, the Smashers stepped out of the train, and Master Hand said to them, "As you can see, things are going smoothly here. I'm sure we can finish things up in at least two more days. When you guys are ready to by then, we can head out of this world with all the yukkuris!"

"By the way, I'm thinking that we should make known what we are doing to everyone in this world," Olimar said. "It would be too shocking for the people here if the yukkuris disappear all of a sudden without an explanation, so I think we really should let them know."

"Right," Fox said with a nod. "We'll announce what we plan to do on the day we're leaving, because if we do it beforehand, chances are likely that abusers who are against this idea will try to stop us."

"Wouldn't eet make-a more sense that-a da abusers are happy that-a theez world no longa haz yukkuris?" Mario asked. "They don't-a like-a yukkuris, so they should-a be happy that-a they are gone."

"I don't know… Somehow, I have the feeling that this isn't going to satisfy them all that much…" Link said. "Plus, think of the people who make profits out of yukkuris…"

"Whatever the case is, this isn't something that is going to be easy for this world to accept," Master Hand said, "but for the sake of these poor critters and the safety of this world, and maybe even the whole universe, this has to be done…"

* * *

In order to meet the required number of yukkuris, the Smashers started gathering yukkuris from pretty much anywhere they could find them. Because there weren't any places where they could rescue yukkuris, they had to gather ones found in the wild.

In order to keep the yukkuris from thinking that they were being poached, the Smashers used various ways to lure them into the ranch, such as using food, becoming good friends with them and then leading them over, or using signs that wrote "_Easy Place over here_".

There was also an instance where several chens, including a bodied chen, followed Chen back to the ranch. "They think I'm one of them," Chen told Ran.

For the rest of the day, the Smashers did their best bringing as many yukkuris as they could into the ranch, and they kept this up for the next two days.

* * *

"What's all this commotion?" Arnold said as he went over to the entrance of the office due to the large amount of noise coming from there. When he was close to the former, he asked one of the guards there what was happening.

"These people are protesting against our products and treatment of yukkuris, chairman!" the guard told him.

"What?!" Arnold said in shock upon hearing the reply, and then he stepped outside and found himself face to face with quite a mob, all of them shouting for the ethical treatment of yukkuris and some of them holding signs that wrote things like "_Treat yukkuris better!_".

"Away with your torturous gadgets and devices!"

"Stop yukkuri abuse!"

"Abuse is wrong! Treat yukkuris nicer!"

"Down with Yu-Abuse Incorporated!"

"What is this madness?!" Arnold shouted at the mob. "What do you think you people are doing, gathering in front of my office building and protesting about something you're not supposed to protest about?! You're breaking the law here, don't you realize this?! Do you all want to get arrested?!"

"We have enough of this dumb decree!" one of the protesters shouted. "It's time we yukkuri lovers step forward and speak out our thoughts and put an end to yukkuri abuse once and for all!'

"You should be glad we aren't planning to go as far as PETY!" another one said. "Their idea may be good, but the way they're doing things is wrong. However, now that they are disbanded, there is pretty much no hope in ending yukkuri abuse, so someone has to step up to do something!"

"We cannot think of anyone other than you who hate yukkuris this much!" yet another one said. "The fact that you own a company that creates abuse-related products proves it! We will no longer allow such products to be created!"

"Stop yukkuri abuse at once!"

"Stop yukkuri abuse right now!"

"Down with Yu-Abuse Incorporated!"

"Yukkuris have the right to live!"

The mob shouted louder and louder, and because they were starting to push forward, guards quickly ran forward to keep them away. Arnold shouted at the top of his voice at the angry mob, "ENOUGH OF THIS! YOU PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO GET ON MY BAD SIDE, RIGHT?! DON'T YOU THINK YOU CAN CHANGE ANYTHING BY DOING THIS! I'M GOING TO CALL THE POLICE RIGHT NOW TO DEAL WITH YOU!"

"WE'RE WILLING TO FIGHT AGAINST THEM!" the mob shouted back. "WE WILL FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT OF YUKKURIS! WE WILL!"

* * *

"Great job, everyone!" Olimar said while looking at a notepad. "We managed to reach our goal in three days! We have a total of 933 yukkuris now!"

"This turned out to be easier than we thought!" Fox said. "Though it's really only because yukkuris are very easily to trick… Anyway, now that we've reached our goal, we only have to wait for Master Hand's side to finish their job, but we should transport all the yukkuris there first." He then turned to Yukari and saw her sitting in front of and watching a portable TV. "Mistress Yukari, if you would please lend us a hand in this."

"I think you should see this," Yukari said, ignoring what he said. Fox went up next to her to see what she was watching, and what he saw surprised him, so he quickly called for the others to come over and see.

On the screen, they saw the scene of the protesting that was happening in front of Yu-Abuse Inc.'s entrance. "Whoa! Am I seeing things right?!" Luigi said in surprise.

"Looks like those people have finally decided to stop being chickens and do what should be done!" Falco said, sounding glad. "I'd love to see how that chairman deal with this!"

"People are actually protesting?! But I thought they're too afraid of the decree to do something!" Pikachu said. "Are they actually from PETY?"

"I don't know, but something tells me that what happened to PETY might have caused this," Snake said.

"You are right in saying that," said the voice of Eiki, and then everyone turned around to look at the judge of afterlife. "These people have been against this decree for a long time, but they never had the guts to do something about it. Even though they do not agree with PETY's way of doing things, they still hoped that their actions might create changes. However, with the death of Raul, the members of PETY have lost the will and motivation to continue fighting for the rights of yukkuris, so these people fear that the hope for yukkuris to stop being abused may be gone forever if they do not do something. Therefore, they have decided to step forward and fight for the right of yukkuris, though without going as far as PETY."

"That's good to know. Neo PETY is exactly the last thing we needed…" Luigi sarcastically said.

"What-a do we do now?" Mario said.

"I say we head over there and laugh at Arnold's predicament!" Falco suggested.

"Whether or not we're heading over there to laugh at him, I agree that we go there," Link said. "If the president does show up, then it is the perfect opportunity to convince him to change the decree!"

"But we still have to transport the yukkuris to the train station," Olimar reminded everyone.

"That can be saved for later. Or just let Yukari do the job," Falco said. "Why waste the opportunity to go there and point at Arnold's face while laughing at him?"

* * *

The protesting went on, and the guards continued to try to keep them from breaking into the office. All the while, Arnold, instead of running away or do something useful, was shouting at the angry mob, but they either didn't hear him over their really loud shouting or ignored what he said. News reporters and the police shortly arrived at the scene, the former to broadcast what was happening and the latter to do something about it.

As the mob shouted in anger and tried to push their through the guards and the policemen, some people suddenly ran at them from all sides except the front to beat them with sticks and grab and fling them away. The mob quickly moved back a bit to see what was going on, and then several people armed with things like sticks, brooms, baseball bats, and crowbars gathered in front of them. "As people who enjoy abusing yukkuris," the one in lead loudly said, "we do not like what you are doing! You want to fight for the right of yukkuris? Guess what? We're going to fight for the right of yukkuri abuse!"

"Yeah! We have the right to abuse yukkuris!" another one said.

"Yukkuris exist to be abused, tortured, and killed for our entertainment!" yet another one said. "Therefore, you have no right to stop us!"

"No! Yukkuris do no deserve to be killed for your entertainment!" a protester angrily said.

"You abusers have no moral! We will not allow you to do as you want to yukkuris any longer!" another one said.

"Then this is war!" the leader of the opposing mob said. "For the sake of abusers, we shall teach you a lesson!"

Shouts filled the air as both sides charged at each other, and things were going so rough and wild that the policemen and guards could not do anything at all. Random objects were being thrown in various directions, so the reporters had to keep their distance and be careful not to get hit by them.

While this was happening, Arnold was shouting, "Yeah! Show those yukkuri lovers who the boss is around here! We abusers are always right! Yukkuris do not deserve to live a happy life! All of them deserve to be killed for our entertainment! All of them!" Rupert was next to him, pointing and laughing at the chaos that was going on.

"Chairman! You're not helping at all!" an employee of the office said to him. "It doesn't matter who's right or wrong! Things will never be resolved if you just stand here and…"

"You have something against my way of doing things?" Arnold interrupted him. "You think we're in the wrong here?"

"No… What I mean is…" the employee said, but Arnold interrupted him again.

"If you're not with me, then you're against me!" Arnold angrily said before grabbing him by the collar and then flinging him into the angry mob to get beaten up.

"Hahaha! That was so funny! He had it coming!" Rupert said, laughing harder than before after seeing what Arnold did to that employee.

When the policemen were unable to stop the chaos, they called for a large hose to spray a large amount of water at the people, hoping to stop them. However, even after being pushed down by the high pressure water, the mob got back up and continued shouting at and fighting each other.

The Smashers eventually arrived at the scene of the chaos, and they were shocked to see how rough things were. "It's gotten even worse than when we saw it on TV!" Pikachu said. "How are we going to stop them?!"

"Can we even do something about this?!" Parry asked.

"We have to do something to grab their attention first!" Fox suggested.

"How?" Pikachu asked.

"A loud voice is usually a good way to grab people's attention," Falco said.

"And how are we going to do that?" the electric rodent asked.

"Jigglypuff!" Falco said to the balloon Pokemon. "Use Hyper Voice to grab those people's attention!"

"But Hyper Voice hurts people too!" she said.

"At least it won't kill anyone! Just do it!" Falco insisted.

"Okay! Jigglypuff try not to hurt anyone!" the balloon Pokemon said, and then she took a deep breath before shouting at the top of her voice, sending forth a large sound wave in the process. "JIGGLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"

The force of the sound wave caused the mob to fly forward and scatter all over the place. That was when they finally stopped fighting and turned to look at what caused this. "Jigglypuff did it!" the Pokemon happily said.

"It really worked!" Olimar said.

"What did I tell you?" Falco said to him.

"It's those aliens from another world!" one of the people shouted.

"What are they doing here?" another one asked.

Hearing that the Smashers were here, Arnold immediately shouted in their direction, "How dare you show your face to me again?! Surely you have come to laugh at me for running into this kind of situation, right?!"

"You must be psychic!" Falco said to him. "Right, we're here to laugh at you!" Then he pointed at him and laughed loudly. "Hahahahaha! There! You happy now?"

"Accursed outsiders! You're the ones who started this in the first place!" Arnold angrily said. "You're trying to bring me down, aren't you?! I won't let you take me down so easily!"

"For your information: this protest is not our doing!" Link loudly said to him. "These people came on their own will, and they're doing the right thing too! Yukkuri abuse has gone far enough! If you value the life of everyone here and also your world, then stop the abusing at once!"

"Lies!" shouted one of the abusers who took part in the riot. "You only made that up to try to get us to stop abusing yukkuris!"

"Right! We will not fall for lies like that!" another one shouted. "It'll take more than that to get us to stop abusing yukkuris!"

"My life turned for the better ever since I started abusing yukkuris!" yet another one said. "Are you trying to make me go back to my horrible life? How can you be so cruel?!"

"Dude… You're seriously messed up to think that your life became better due to abusing yukkuris…" Luigi said to him.

"None of this would've happened if you people never came here!" Arnold said to the Smashers. "You caused the death of Raul, and that led to today! It's your fault that all this happened!"

"He has a point-a," Mario said. "Da fact-a that-a Snake killed Raul eez da reason that-a deez riot started."

"It's not like I wanted to kill him in the first place…" Snake told him.

"Get them!" one of the abusers shouted. "They are responsible for this! We'll teach them a lesson for getting in the way of abusing yukkuris!"

"For the sake of yukkuri abuse, we will beat you all up!" another one shouted.

The Smashers became defensive when the mob moved toward them, but they all stopped when they heard and saw a limousine driving in their direction. Those standing right outside the office building moved away when the vehicle went there, and when it stopped, the driver came out to open the door, allowing the person inside to step out.

"It's the president!" someone said.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Yes, Master Hand broke the fourth wall in this chapter. This is something that happens often in my SSB series, so you'll have to get used to it.

Also, I am aware that kappas in the Touhou series prefer working alone. Because of this, Nitori isn't working on any of the carts that the alloys are working on; she is working on ones that aren't touched by anyone by herself.


	18. Uneasiness Revealed

Man, never would've thought that it's been this long since the last update already… I'm very, very sorry for procrastinating again and taking this long to update…

**Chapter 18  
Uneasiness Revealed**

* * *

Everyone was silent as the president looked at them all with a stern face, and then he said, "It was a matter of time that this happened… However, it does not deny that fact that I am still surprised that it happened… When I saw what was happening on the television, I just had to rush over here to try and settle things myself."

"Well, Mr. President! I guess it's time that we talk over things," Falco said, making his way through the crowd and approaching him. "You do realize that this happened because you established that decree in the first place, didn't you? You can only blame yourself for something like this!"

"How dare you speak to the president with disrespect!" the vice president, who came with the president, angrily said to him.

"Am I not right in saying that?" Falco asked. "Had you never come up with this silly decree in the first place, people would never try to fight for the rights of yukkuris in this manner! The fact that you wanted to satisfy abusers without thinking of people who love yukkuris is why this happened!"

"The same could be said if I ban yukkuri abuse," the president replied. "Doing that would eventually cause abusers to start a protest like this. It doesn't matter which method of yukkuri treatment I ban, they will both lead to this; therefore, the next best thing was to prevent both sides from going against each other."

"And did that work?" Falco said, pointing his hand at the people around the place. "If that method does work, you wouldn't be seeing this sight today! PETY probably wouldn't even exist!"

Fox walked forward and said, "I think it's better to say that no matter how you do it, you won't be able to satisfy anyone. You ban yukkuri abuse, abusers go on strike; you ban ethical treatment of yukkuris, yukkuri lovers go on strike; and if you make things the way they are currently… Well, someone's going to go on strike in the end… In conclusion, there is absolutely no way you can ever satisfy anyone in this world when it comes to yukkuris, despite abuse being unethical."

"What you say is pretty much the truth," the president said with a nod. "If you are willing to come up with a better solution, I am willing to listen. Can you think of a better method for things? Do you think you can make people live together in harmony and agreement when it comes to yukkuri treatments?"

Fox and Falco looked at each other, and the latter moved his head in a way that implied wanting the former to go ahead and say something that only they knew to the president. Fox quietly said to himself that it better not be a mistake in saying this, and then he took a deep breath before saying, "Mr. President… Let say that yukkuris do not exist in this world… Not at all… Do you think everyone will be able to live in peace?"

Upon hearing this, everyone started talking to each other about this. The president was going to say something when Arnold interrupted him. "Stop talking about things you know that will never happen! Yukkuris not existing? In your world, maybe! But in this world? Yeah right!"

Fox looked at him and said, "We're going to make it happen!" Barring the Smashers, everyone was shocked to hear this.

"What did you just say?!" the president asked.

Fox turned to him and said, "It is exactly as you heard! We're going to transport all the yukkuris out of this world! That way, not only can this world save itself from destruction under the hands of the Destructor, but the yukkuris will also be able to live in peace in a new world. The citizens of this world will also be able to live a more peaceful life due to there being no yukkuris, and therefore no disputes regarding the treatment of yukkuris. What we are doing may sound crazy, but with the right technology, it is possible and will happen soon!"

The people talked about this among themselves, not believing what they just heard, and then Arnold loudly said to Fox, "You seriously think that is going to work?! You think you can satisfy everyone by removing the yukkuris from this world? Think of all the people who make a living and get a kick out of abusing yukkuris! They're not going to accept living in a world where they cannot abuse yukkuris! You're going to make things worse just by doing that!"

"Really? Then I'm going to get a kick out of seeing you abusers suffer in a world where you cannot abuse yukkuris!" Falco said to him.

"It doesn't matter what you people think," Fox said. "We are going to go ahead with our plan, and it may even happen today! Like I said, this is for the good of everyone! We do not know where we will transport the yukkuris too yet, but we can be sure that wherever they are going, it will be much better than this world! I know it may be hard for you all to accept, but for the sake of everyone in this world, this must be done!"

An abuser stepped forward, pointed at them, and shouted, "You can't do that! How are we going to get pleasure in life without yukkuris to abuse! You're going to cause harm to this world if you do that!"

"Yeah! That's an inhuman act to do!" another one shouted.

"Any more inhuman than the way you treat yukkuris?!" Link said, walking forward. "You think it's all right to abuse yukkuris and not see those actions as inhuman, but taking them away to a place where they can live in peace inhuman instead?! You people have a twisted way of thinking things that make me sick! If your way of thinking is known by the people of our world, they will surely think of you as sick freaks!"

However, the abusers shouted angrily at the Smashers, some of them ignoring what they said or coming up reasons to justify their treatments of yukkuris. "I think it's obvious that there's no way we're ever going to convince them," Snake said. "Might as well give up and go ahead with what we plan to do…"

Arnold stepped in front of the abusers and loudly said, "These people are going to make a ruin out of us if we let them do as they want! Whether or not they are really telling the truth or have the ability to do so, we have to show them about messing with the affairs of our world! Everyone! If you value yukkuri abuse, then you must step forward and go against them! It's people like them that we abusers cannot abuse in peace!"

"Yeah!" all the abusers shouted, punching the air.

"Uh oh… Looks-a like trouble…" said Mario, sounding nervous.

"You know something like this was going to happen…" Snake said.

"At least we get to give them a piece of our mind using the good old way!" Falco said with a smirk.

"Get them!" Arnold shouted, pointing at the Smashers. "Beat them dead or throw them into prison! They must learn their lessons for messing with us!"

"Yeah!" shouted the mob before they ran forward with their weapons raised into the air. The Smashers quickly found themselves surrounded by the abusers and getting into a violent conflict with them. The policemen, wanting to stop the conflict and protect the Smashers, tried to squeeze into the mob, though all they accomplished was getting into a fight with the abusers. The Smashers didn't need any help from the policemen, however, as they were holding up against the abusers with little to no effort.

"Stop! President's order!" the president yelled at the top of his voice. "You can never settle anything like this! We can settle this in the court! All of you! Stop at once!"

Arnold walked up to him and said, "Stop chickening out and let what must be done get done already! Those people are going to destroy us all if we let them do as they want! They're breaking the rules, so as the president, it is your job to ensure that lawbreakers get punishment!"

"But not in such violent way!" the president said to him. "Listen! Just because this is a democratic country doesn't mean you can walk up to the president and order him around! It's enough that you forced me to obey you by establishing this decree once already! I won't listen to you the second time!"

"Oh really?" Arnold said to him. "You are aware that the fate of this city lies in my hand, don't you? You don't do as I say, I…"

"The fourth bomb never existed in the first place!" the president shouted into his face. "It was a lie made up by you to take advantage of my weakness of sympathizing with the citizens! After detonating the first three bombs and taking the lives of several people, I was afraid, so you lied to me that there was a fourth bomb ready to be detonated! By that, you managed to get me to comply with you by establishing this decree! I eventually sent people to check the entire city, but there isn't a single bomb! It's all a lie! A lie! A LIE! YOUR HATRED FOR YUKKURIS CAUSED THE DEATH OF THOUSANDS INNOCENTS AND WRECKED A LARGE PORTION OF THE CITY! YOU DID ALL THIS JUST BECAUSE YOU WANTED TO ABUSE YUKKURIS IN PEACE! A SICK AND DEMENTED MAN LIKE YOU HAS NO RIGHT TO ORDER ME AROUND! I WILL NO LONGER TOLERATE YOUR ACTIONS! THERE! I JUST REVEALED TO THE WHOLE WORLD THAT YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE TERRORIST BOMBING THREE YEARS AGO AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DECREE!"

The president's voice was so loud that everyone stopped fighting to turn to look at him and Arnold. "Did the president just say something about Arnold being responsible for a bombing three years ago and the decree regarding yukkuri abuse?" said Donkey, who was holding a beaten up abuser by the neck and with his other hand pulled back to get ready to punch him.

"If you can hear it that clearly, then you can be sure that everyone here heard it too," Fox said to him.

Arnold looked around in panic as various people started moving close to him and bombarded him with questions and statements regarding what the president said.

"Is this true?!"

"You're the one responsible for the terrorist bombing three years ago?!"

"How could you?!"

"The president established the decree because of you?!"

"You did that just to abuse yukkuris?!"

"How can you do such an inhuman thing?!"

"Well… That explains things…" said Snake, thinking about the news article and everything he was thinking about that time.

Trying to protect himself, Arnold desperately said, "It was for the sake of you abusers…! Before that, you constantly get criticized and attacked for abusing yukkuris! Being an abuser myself, I understand how annoying it is to get criticized by other people for your actions, so I did that! It was for the sake of you all…!"

As the people continued to shower him with questions and statements, Doug, Bill, and Joe suddenly ran in front of Arnold, and the former said to the crowd, "Listen to this man! He is doing all this for your sake!"

"Yeah! If it weren't for him, we wouldn't be able to abuse yukkuris in peace! He truly cares about us abusers!" Bill said.

"You have to thank and praise him for everything he did!" Joe said. "If it weren't for him, we would be persecuted by people who are against yukkuri abuse! We should all continue to lend our support to him! He truly is a great man in doing this!"

However, one of the people in the crowd shouted, "He went too far! He took the lives of thousands of people just to allow abusers to abuse yukkuris in peace?! As much as I enjoy abusing yukkuris, this is not right!"

"Yeah! He must be brought to justice and pay for what he did!" another one said.

"Some of my relatives were killed in the bombing! I demand justice!" yet another one shouted.

Even though there were several people angry at what Arnold did, some defended him instead. They joined the same side as the Doug, Bill, and Joe and talked back at the angry mob.

"Geez… Look at those people defending Arnold…" Snake said. "We pretty much have all the proof we need that there are some really messed up people here…"

"At least we know that some abusers have enough sense to know that what Arnold did is wrong," Fox said. "Looks like there is still hope for them."

While the angry mob was trying to push through the abusers who defended Arnold, policemen suddenly caught the chairman of Yu-Abuse Inc. from behind. "The president has ordered for your arrest!" one of them said. "You are charged with the crime of terrorist bombing and mass genocide!"

"Let go of me!" Arnold angrily shouted while struggling to break free. "You have no right to arrest me! People have the right to abuse yukkuris! There is no limit to what they want to do if they want to abuse yukkuris! I did it for the sake of all the abusers! You should be thanking me instead of trying to arrest me!"

"This is as far as you go!" the president said to the chairman. "It's high time that you pay for your crimes! I carried the guilt of hiding the truth from the public for three years, so it's time that I make up for my mistake!"

"You'll regret it!" Arnold shouted at him. "This isn't the last you've seen of me!"

"Your threats are now empty and will no longer daunt me! Enjoy your time in prison!" the president said to him.

As the policemen were dragging Arnold away, Doug, Bill, and Joe suddenly charged at them and attacked them, and then they quickly led Arnold away, telling him to escape to safety. They ran to a police car that was parked nearby and hijacked it, and the policemen were chasing them. After Arnold got inside with his saviors, Rufus got in front of the police and swung his golf club at one of them, but the others managed to avoid getting hit.

"Beating up people is just as fun as abusing yukkuris! I don't mind if I actually knock your heads off your shoulders! Hohoho!" Rufus said while swinging his golf club around, and behind him, the car quickly made its getaway.

One of the policemen pointed his gun at Rufus and said to him, "Put down that golf club at once!"

"Where's the fun in that? Hahaha!" Rufus laughed. Suddenly, he noticed Falco jumping over the policemen and falling towards him, but he was unable to defend himself and got pushed to the ground by the face by the bird.

Falco then picked him up the collar and said to him, "Still haven't learned your lesson, eh? This should teach you!" He then punched him in the face hard to make him take several steps back from him.

Rufus looked at him with a goofy smile on his face and said, "Heeheehee! You and your friends did well starting this mess! Are you glad that you're actually succeeding in what you want to do?"

"I'll be happier if I can get that disgusting smile off your face!" Falco angrily said as he approached him. Rufus laughed before swinging his golf club at him, but Falco easily caught it and then kneed him. After that, he bent him over and struck him in the back multiple times before forcing him back upright and punching him backwards by the face. Falco then ran up to him, caught him by the collar, and judo slammed him behind himself.

SLAAAAAAAAAAAAM!

Despite receiving those beatings, Rufus was still laughing. "You're insane! Completely insane!" Falco angrily said to him.

"And there's nothing wrong with that! Hahaha!" Rufus said while laughing. "What a day today! You people sure did something that should be marked down in history! I totally have to thank you all for making life thrilling!"

"How can you still laugh, knowing that yukkuris are soon going to disappear from this world?" Falco asked him.

"To me, yukkuri abuse is just one of the fun things in life! I can simply find something else to do to make myself laugh and have fun! You know what they say! Look at life in a positive way, and everyday will be a cheerful day! I'm living life to the fullest! Hahahahaha!"

The police came forward and picked up the madman. "We'll take him from here," one of them said.

"This guy is better of in the insane asylum!" Falco said. "I have never seen such a crazy person like him!"

"Hahaha! You think you're actually doing this world a big favor when you're actually doing the opposite!" Rufus said. "You have to realize that the people's hatred for yukkuris cannot be resolved simply by removing the latter! Some people hate yukkuris so much that the only way to eliminate their hate is to abuse them all the time!"

"We'll see about that!" Falco said to him.

"Mark my words! Hatred is not something you can get rid of so easily! There is more than one way to get rid of hatred after all! Wahahahahaha! Hahahahaha!"

* * *

Soon afterwards, the chaos came to an end, courtesy of the Smashers giving the abusers who sided with Arnold a good beating. The latter were then taken away by the police, and while this was happening, the president and the Smashers were talking with each other. "So when you refused to comply with him, he instantly set off the first bomb?" Link asked.

The president nodded. "Yes, and after I was shocked that he would do such a thing, he quickly detonate the second one before demanding that I establish the decree. I still hesitated a bit, and that was when he detonated the third bomb. After knowing that three bombs had gone off, I could no longer accept the death of any more innocent people, so I instantly agreed to establish the decree. He told me that there was a fourth bomb, and he was going to detonate it if I refused to comply with him again."

"Man… That guy is horrible…" Luigi said. "That guy can hate yukkuris so much that he is willing to kill people without remorse…"

"During these three years, I sent agents all over the city to look for the fourth bomb," the president continued. "However, there were no results from their searches at all, and after a long time of searching, we came to the conclusion that the fourth bomb doesn't exist and that Arnold was lying to me all along."

"Then how come you didn't instantly confront him when you found out that the fourth bomb doesn't exist?" Fox asked.

"We only came to this conclusion this year, and I was planning to find some time to confront him about this, but at the same, I feared that there might be the possibility of the fourth bomb actually existing," the president replied. "Either way, I'm glad my fears are put to rest and that I finally managed to reveal the truth behind the terrorist bombing three years ago to the public."

"A man like Arnold must not get away with this!" Olimar angrily said. "That man is a complete monster! Mistreating yukkuris is one thing! But to take the lives of thousands of innocent people just to abuse yukkuris?! That's wrong!"

"Yeah! That guy is, like, the most messed up guy I've ever seen in my life!" Pichu said. "I really want to shock him bad!"

"Rest assure that we will definitely hunt him down and bring him to justice," the president told them. "Indeed, a man like him must not be let loose."

"That's-a good to know!" Mario said. "Let's-a hope he doesn't cause any trouble in the meantime… By da way, about-a da yukkuris…"

"Right… I think we should talk a bit more about this," the president said. He was going to continue, but Fox's smartphone suddenly rang.

"Hello?" the fox answered. "Master Hand! What? The train is ready? Great! We can leave today?" Fox then looked at the others. "That's good and all, but I think we shouldn't rush things… Perhaps you should talk to a certain man here yourself first…"

* * *

The next day, the president, news reporter, and quite a bit of the crowd were gathered at the abandoned train station, seeing what would without doubt be the biggest thing to happen to the history of their world unfold.

When the president talked with Master Hand the previous day, they came to the conclusion to wait one more day before transporting the yukkuris out of this world, as they want to let yukkuri lovers and owners spend a bit more time with the yukkuris. If the yukkuris were to go on the same day the train was ready, then it would be too sudden for the people to accept things.

"If what you are doing will truly save and change our world," the president said to the Smashers, "then I entrust this task to you."

"Don't worry, Mr. President," Master Hand said to him. "We will make sure to accomplish our task to the end! Your world will definitely be safe from the Destructor!"

The president let out a sigh. "It's true that our world has been in quite a bit of a mess due to the different views on yukkuris… I'm neutral towards yukkuris, but it saddens me to see people fight over how one should treat them everyday… I have always wondered if it was possible for yukkuris to be treated the same by everyone and if everyone could come to an agreement with each other regarding this and not get into conflicts due to different viewpoints. However, what happened yesterday seems to have made it clear that we can never come to an agreement. So long as yukkuris continue to exist in this world, there can never be true peace…"

"All of that is changing now, Mr. President," Fox said to him. "If there were other choices, we would prefer not to take away the thing that has been a part of this world's history for so long, but like you said, the people of this world can never come to an agreement regarding the treatment of yukkuris, so as long as yukkuris exist here, there can never be true peace."

"I guess we humans owe yukkuris an apology for mistreating their species for so long…" the president. "Please… I beg of you… Please let the yukkuris know that not all humans are hostile towards them…"

"You can count on us to do that!" Master Hand assured him. "We have discovered a world where they can live in peace with humans! The humans of that world are peaceful and kind in nature!"

"If that's the case, then I would like to thank you now," the president said. "I thank you all on behalf of all the people of this world who loves yukkuris. It's hard for them to accept the loss of the yukkuris they love so much, but I'm sure that most of them will understand that this is for the best if they want the yukkuris to find true peace. It may take a while, but with an encouraging enough speech, I believe I will be able to motivate the people of this world to accept this change and start life anew without yukkuris."

"Change is possible if you are willing to try," the Hand told him. "If you believe, anything is possible!"

After both sides were done talking to each other, the Smashers boarded the train. "Engines start! We're all ready to set off!" said Master Hand loudly inside the control room, and Rikako and the alloys activated the controls. With that, the train's engine sounded loudly, and slowly, the vehicle began to move forward, building up speed at a slow pace.

The yukkuris were glad that they were finally going to a place where they could "take it easy forever" and meet humans that were nicer than the ones here. However, some yukkuris, especially the younger ones, were nervous, as not only did they not fully understand what was happening, but the slight shaking caused by the movement of the train also scared them a bit. Their parents assured them that everything was going to be all right, and Olimar, who was traveling from cart to cart from time to time to oversee the yukkuris, further enforced what they said.

Outside, photographers were taking pictures of the train as it slowly took off from the station. Fox, standing at the door, waved good-bye to everyone, particularly the president, before the train moved away from the place at a fast speed. After the train was gone, everyone ran close to the train track to continue taking pictures of it and watching it move farther and farther into the distance.

"Good luck, all of you…" the president said in his head.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED


	19. Stowaway Easy

Yeah, same as usual… Sorry for the wait again… I also had a bit of writer's block with this chapter.

**Chapter 19**  
**Stowaway Easy**

* * *

The train had taken off from the station and was building up speed as it moved in order to reach the required speed for activating the transportation sequence. In the control room, Master Hand asked Rikako and the alloys, "Is everything under control and going smoothly?"

"Everything is as you said," Rikako replied without turning around from looking at the control panel. "Once we reach a speed of 100 miles per hour, we'll be able to enter the space between dimensions if we keep at that speed for more than ten minutes."

"Good to know that! Let's hope nothing gets in our way and slow us down! I doubt anything is going to slow us down anyway," the Hand said.

* * *

Link, with Parry perched on his shoulder, and Olimar were walking down one of the carts, overseeing the yukkuris as they sang, slept, and chatted with each other while enjoying the train ride. "They seem to have gotten used to being caged up," Link said. "But then, we told them they were going to a place where they can take it easy forever if they are willing to stay in there patiently for some time."

"Yukkuris like to take it easy after all, so they're pretty much willing to do anything to achieve that goal," Olimar said. "Being simple-minded creatures, they're willing to believe pretty much everything you tell them, maybe except the smarter ones."

"Saying that here may make them think we're actually plotting their demise, you know…" Parry told him.

"Any worse than what you said just now…?" Olimar said to him, letting him know that he shouldn't have said something like that here.

* * *

In a cart that was located at the further back part of the train, Chen was happily playing with various bodied yukkuris. Because bodied yukkuris were much rarer compared to the normal kinds, the Smashers never found several of them. The amount they found wasn't even enough to fill up an entire cart, so there was still enough space for one to move around in there.

* * *

Meanwhile, Mario, Luigi, and Snake were looking out the window of the cart behind the aforementioned cart. "Good to know that we're finally leaving this place," Luigi said. "Guess this will be the last we'll be seeing yukkuri abuse…"

"Eet'll be da last-a time da abusers will eva get-a to abuse yukkuris too," Mario added.

"Let's just hope that everything goes smoothly and that none of them will try to stop us in the last second," Snake said.

"Relax, everything is going fine," Luigi told him. "I doubt anyone can catch up with us to stop us. What's the worse that can happen?"

"Something tells me that this is going along way too smoothly and that it's too good to be true…" Snake said.

"You can consider the riot yesterday to be our final battle," Luigi told him. "Anyway, I'm sure we will be able to get out of here without a problem." As he looked out the window, he noticed a black truck catching up in the distance, but he didn't give it much thought about it.

However, the three of them started to become suspicious when they noticed the truck moving in their direction. When the truck was closer than before to the train, it sped forward and rammed the cart containing the bodied yukkuris.

CRASH!

"What the?! What's the driver on?!" Snake said in surprise.

While not strong enough to make the cart fall over to the side, the shaking was still strong enough to make everyone at the head of the train feel it. "What was that just now?!" Master Hand asked.

Inside the cart behind the head, Nitori was seated in front of a computer that was showing the layout of the train, and one of the carts at the back was flashing in red. "Something hit the fourth cart from the back from the side!" she loudly said.

Mario, Luigi, and Snake ran into the cart containing the bodied yukkuris, who were cowering in fear with Chen, who was trying to comfort them, and looked out the window to see the truck. When they looked through the truck's window, they were surprised to see Arnold glaring at them, and Dr. Blak was driving the truck. "Oh my god! It's him!" Luigi said, referring to the chairman. "He actually came after us!"

"I knew that guy wouldn't let us go so easily!" Snake said.

Dr. Blak pulled the truck to the side and then rammed into the cart again, and then Mario said to Chen and the bodied yukkuris, "Quick-a! Get-a into anotha cart-a! Theez one eez not-a safe to be in anymore!"

"Okay!" Chen said. "Everyone! Follow me to the cart up ahead! I'll definitely protect you all!" Then she led the panicking bodied yukkuris away. Shortly after she left, Fox, Falco, Donkey, and Diddy came into the cart and looked out the window as well.

"That guy sure is persistent, isn't he?!" Falco said.

"If they ram the carts up ahead, the yukkuris inside the cages may get hurt!" Fox said. "We mustn't let them get up ahead!"

The truck then slowed down and moved behind the train. It moved alongside a little bit behind the last cart, and then the side of the truck opened to reveal Bill, Joe, and Doug, armed with a baseball bat, crowbar, and stick respectively. "C'mon!" Bill shouted. "Let's stop them and kill all the yukkuris in there! We must stop these people from taking away the fun!"

"Yeah!" his two companions shouted while raising their weapons into the air. The three of them, with proper timing, jumped onto the back of the train and then entered through the door. They ran with excitement into the next cart and then headed for the next one, hoping to run into yukkuris. However, they were punched to the back of the same cart when they opened the door by Donkey's large fist.

"Nobody gets through here without my permission!" the angry gorilla said.

The three of them stood up, and Bill said, "We will not let you take away our fun! Release the yukkuris at once!"

"If you don't, we'll unleash violence upon you!" Joe said.

"Give me back my yukkuris! They need to be abused by me! By me!" Doug said while jumping up and down.

Diddy appeared next to Donkey and said, "You'll have to get pass us first!"

Snake and Falco then appeared, and the former said, "We'll deal with the truck! We'll leave these three to you!"

"You can leave them to us!" Diddy replied.

Snake and Falco approached the three, who tried to attack them, but the former managed to knock them aside with little effort before continuing into the previous cart. When they got up again, Donkey and Diddy got into fighting stances, and the former said, "You've asked for this when you came here, so prepare yourselves!"

* * *

"Great… The man himself is here…" Snake said when he and Falco saw a fuming Arnold standing in front of the door at the back of the last cart, and he was holding with him a machine gun.

Falco noted the gun and said, "Looks like you're playing rough for real this time, eh? Very well! I'll gladly play with you!"

"I will not let you take the yukkuris out of this world! I will not!" Arnold said in a voice that was filled with rage.

"Look, we're doing you a favor and taking away all the yukkuris you hate so much out of here," Snake told him. "Shouldn't you be happy that you won't be seeing them again?"

"I never asked for this!" Arnold said. "I hate yukkuris! I hate them! I absolutely hate them! I loathe them to the bones! Because of this, I must torture and kill them everyday! The more I think about them, the more rage I am filled with, and the more rage I am filled with, the more yukkuris I must kill! I will not let you take any of them out of this world! As long as I live, I will always make sure that yukkuris get killed and tortured by me, and if the population of yukkuris run low, I'll force breed them to increase the population, and then I'll continue killing them!"

"Geez… Talk about a major hater!" Falco said. "You hate them so much that you eat and breathe yukkuri abuse?! I don't like you the more I know about you! I'm going to make sure that you get it real good before we disappear from this world!"

"You must all die! Die! Die! DIE!" Arnold shouted before opening fire at them with the machine gun, but they both quickly ducked and then jumped out of the way. Falco took out his reflector to deflect the bullets, but before he had the chance to activate it, a bullet hit the center of the device and caused it to malfunction.

"What the?! You'll pay for this!" Falco angrily said before running at Arnold, tackling him before he could fire at him. The machine gun fell out of Arnold's hand, and Snake quickly picked it up before running for the door, telling the avian to deal with Arnold, while he deal with the truck.

When Snake stepped outside, he could not see the truck. He stuck his head to the side and look up ahead to see that the truck had moved forward. He then climbed the ladder next to the door to get to the top of the train and then slowly moved on top of the carts to get close to the truck to do something about it.

* * *

Inside, Rikako asked Master Hand, "Isn't there anything we can do?"

"Don't worry," the Hand told her. "We just concentrate on keeping the train moving. The Smashers can deal with them. By the way, where's Yukari? I'm sure she'll be of help at a time like this."

"She went to the world where we are sending the yukkuris to already," Rikako told him. "While the judge did go there first by herself a few days ago, she went there again with her this time to let the ruler of that place know that we are coming."

"Geez… This is just like one of those tropes where the best solution to something happens to be unavailable at the most needed time…" the Hand grumbled. "Oh well, it's not like we're in a completely hopeless situation…"

* * *

Dr. Blak rammed the truck against the train, causing the yukkuris within the cages inside to cry in fear. "Someone stop that guy!" Luigi shouted from inside the same cart that got hit.

Link looked out the door and at the truck, shouting at its driver, "Hey you! Cut that out! You're going to scare the yukkuris to death!" Obviously, Dr. Blak did not hear him, as the truck's windows were closed.

Meanwhile, Snake managed to make it to the same cart the truck just rammed, and from there, he fired at the top of the truck. However, the bullets bounced off its unexpectedly tough surface. "Tsk!" the cloned soldier grumbled.

An idea came to him, so he moved back a few carts until he was able to aim at the tire. He shot the tires at the back to make Dr. Blak lose control of the truck, which moved in a snake-like path as the scientist struggled to take control of it. Snake then ran ahead until he was in front of the truck, and then he fired at the tires at the front to make it even less controllable for the scientist. "Argh! How dare you?!" Dr. Blak growled as he "fought" against the steering wheel.

As Dr. Blak tried to gain control of the truck, it moved farther from the train to the side, and suddenly, it rammed into a tree that happened to be in the way.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Snake looked at the crashed truck as the sight of it and the tree became farther and farther from him. "Not part of the plan, but why complain about something like this?" he said to no one in particular.

* * *

Dr. Blak managed to survive the crash, though with minor injuries. He opened the door and fell out of it while groaning in pain from the injuries. Ignoring the pain, he slowly got back up and said in a voice of anger, "Don't think you've gotten me just yet! There's a reason we came after you with a truck like this after all!"

He got back partially into the truck and pressed a button on the dashboard to make the top of the truck's container lift open sideways, and then he ran to the back of the former, opened the set of doors there, and went inside to work on something.

* * *

Bill, Doug, and Joe fought their hardest, but they were in no way a match for Donkey. The three of them were seated on the floor with injuries on their bodies and panting heavily, and the gorilla said to them, "You can't win! Give it up already! Don't force me to treat you way too roughly!"

Bill used his baseball bat to help himself stand back up, and he said to Donkey, "How can you…? How can you people be so heartless?! Taking away the only entertainment of our lives! You people are heartless!"

"Yeah! How are we going to live life if we cannot abuse yukkuris?!" Joe said. "We have been abusing yukkuris for so long that we cannot imagine a day without doing it!"

"My life turned for the better ever since I started abusing yukkuris!" Doug said. "Before that, I was a weak and skinny boy who failed at everything, but ever since I started abusing yukkuris, I became the most cheerful and energetic man in the world! Yukkuri abuse is what changed my life and saved me!"

"Don't talk to us about heartlessness and such if you are the heartless ones yourself!" Diddy said to them in a really angry tone. "Torturing poor creatures and taking their lives for the sake of entertainment? I simply cannot understand how you people are able to do all these without showing remorse! You even laugh at it! Find something else more humane to do!"

"We must abuse yukkuris! We must! WE MUST!" Bill shouted as he raised his weapon into the air. "Get out of our way at once! We must stop you people from taking the yukkuris away!"

"For the sake of all abusers, we must stop you all!" shouted Joe, also raising his weapon into the air.

"For justice!" shouted Doug while doing the same thing.

The three of them charged forward, but Donkey easily knocked them away with a hand swipe. Joe stood back up and ran at Donkey again, this time jumping at him when close. Donkey grabbed him by the body and flung him to the side, but he was immediately assaulted by Bill and Doug. Joe got back up and quickly joined them in beating the gorilla rapidly.

"Donkey!" Diddy shouted. He was going to help, but the gorilla was able to repel them by roaring and swinging his arms. Doug, growling with anger, got back up and ran at him again with his weapon raised high over his head, crying loudly at the same time. When the obese man swung down his stick, Donkey held up his arm in defense, and the stick broke in half when it hit it.

Doug was shocked by this, and then Donkey grabbed him by the head and forcefully pushed him against the window, hitting it so hard that he smashed him right through it. Doug tumbled violently on the ground, and when he came to a stop, he looked up to see the train moving away at a fast speed, so he ran after it while shouting, "Noooo! Stop! Come back! Come back!"

As he was chasing the train, he saw both his friends being flung out the train as well. After tumbling violently against the ground, they got up, and the three of them ran after the train as fast as they could while shouting for it to stop, but no matter how fast they ran, they were unable to catch up with it, and it went farther and farther away from their view.

When it became obvious that they could no longer catch up with the train, Bill threw his arms into the air and wailed loudly, Joe fell on his knees and wailed just as loud, and Doug fell on his face and pounded the ground loudly while crying like crazy, all of them thinking that they would never be able to see or abuse yukkuris again.

Back inside the train, Donkey and Diddy were looking out the window and in their direction. "That takes care of the stowaways," the former said.

"They'll have to find something else fun to do from now on," Diddy said.

* * *

Falco punched Arnold across the face and sent him onto the floor, but the latter got back up while growling in anger and tried to punch the avian. He managed to dodge his fist with no effort and then socked him in the abdomen. Falco proceeded to beat the lights out of him, and when the chairman fell to the floor, the former said to him, "You can't win against me! I'm a more skilled fighter than you!"

"I won't lose to you! Not to a yukkuri lover like you!" Arnold shouted before getting up and trying to punch him again, but Falco stepped to the side and then elbowed him in the back of the head.

After Arnold fell forward, Falco asked him, "Just why do you hate yukkuris so much? That kind of hatred is unnatural! You act as if they murdered your family or burned down your house! What have the yukkuris done to you that you hate them so much? If you want to hate something that much, you need a good reason to justify your hatred!"

Arnold pushed himself back up and glared at him without fully turning around. "They did nothing to me at all! I hate them simply because I hate them! They are trash, and we humans are superior beings who exist to destroy them! Yukkuris exist for the sole purpose of getting killed by us humans! All humans are born with the destiny to kill yukkuris! All those who refuse to hate them or kill them are going against their destinies! That is why all those who love yukkuris are filth and do not deserve to be called humans! Only people who take pleasure in killing and torturing yukkuris are fit to live in this world!"

Hearing this, Falco's mind boiled with anger, and he said, "Seriously… You… You are one… messed up… freak… I thought you actually had a good reason for hating them… but… you are nothing but a lunatic supremacist who thinks you are given orders from above to destroy yukkuris… I don't know whether to pity you… or to dislike you even more…"

Suddenly, Master Hand's voice was broadcasted into the room through a speaker located at the corner of the ceiling. "Listen! The train is close to entering the space between dimensions, so quickly get all the unwelcomed guests out of here if you haven't done so yet! You don't want to take them along for the ride, don't you?"

"Looks like I'll have to get you out of here now!" Falco said to Arnold. "Even if he didn't make that announcement, I plan to do it anyway…"

"You will not take the yukkuris out of here! You will not succeed! You will not! YOU WILL NOT!" Arnold shouted. "YUKKURIS ARE TRASH! EVERYONE WHO LOVE AND PROTECT THEM ARE TRASH AS WELL! ALL OF YOU ARE TRASH! TRASH! TRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH! I AM THE CHOSEN ONE TO BRING ETERNAL TORTURE YUKKURIS! I MUST CONTINUE MY PURPOSE IN THIS WORLD! I MUST! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! "

The enraged chairman quickly got back up and tried to punch Falco, but the avian caught his fist and then flung him at the door. The latter then ran up to him to kick him from behind hard, so hard that the door was torn down. Arnold flew out of the train and tumbled violently against the track. When he came to a stop, he quickly turned to the train and ran after it while flailing his arms.

Orange electricity started to appear all over the train, meaning that it was getting ready to disappear. As the train was disappearing, something flew over Arnold and landed on top of the train, and almost immediately after that, they both disappeared in a burst of bright light.

Arnold slowly stopped moving when he saw that the train was no longer in sight. He stood in place trembling for several seconds, and then he fell on his knees and raised his fists into the air, screaming at the top of his voice while doing so, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH !"

* * *

The train reappeared in a void-like area that had purple background in the same way it disappeared. "All right!" Master Hand exclaimed. "We did it! We entered into the space between dimensions!"

"Lafjkeqwrlsdfkjweihgldfjkald fjgbnvz!" an alloy said to him.

"That's good to hear!" Master Hand replied.

"What did he say?" Rikako asked.

"He said that the screen is showing that all the yukkuris in that world have started disappearing! Their population is changing to zero!" the Hand told her.

"But wait… Did the Smashers manage to get all the intruders out of the train?" Rikako then asked.

"Don't worry; rest assure that they managed to get the job done," the Hand told her.

Suddenly, Olimar rushed into the cart in panic. "Bad news! Bad news!"

"What happened?" Master Hand asked as he turned around.

"We brought along someone… I mean something… dangerous!" the panting Hocotatian replied.

* * *

Snake, Fox, Falco, and Link were looking up from the sides of a cart, not believing what they were looking at. "You gotta be kidding me…" Snake said.

"What is that?!" Link asked.

"Looks like they pulled out their trump card…" Falco said.

Standing on the top of the last cart was a mechanical monstrosity resembling a bipedal dinosaur that had three rows of sharp plates running down its back, hands ending in sharp, pointy fingers, razor-sharp teeth lined along its mouth, and glowing red eyes.

The mechanical monstrosity stood up, a height close to four meters tall, and let out a "mechanical-sounding" roar that could be heard by everyone aboard the train—the Yukkurinator.

Using its built-in x-ray vision, the Yukkurinator looked at the carts in front of it, and when it came across the first cart that contained yukkuris, bodied ones, it let out another roar before taking steps forward, its weight causing the surface of the cart's top to be dented with each step. "We better get that thing off the train before we reach our destination!" Snake said. "No way are we letting something like that come with us!"

"That's the most obvious thing we should be doing now!" Falco said.

After the Yukkurinator placed both its feet onto the second cart, it bent down slightly, and then burst of flames came out from its feet and propelled it forward. It landed at the back end of the fifth cart from the back, and its weight, combined with the force of the landing, caused that part of the cart to bend down a lot.

It took a step forward to get onto the higher part of the carts, and then the front part of its body opened. The Smashers watched with curiosity at what it was going to do, and suddenly, a claw came out of the opening at a blinding speed and tore through the back part of the sixth cart in an instant, and when it came back out, a bodied reisen was pulled out.

The bodied yukkuri screamed as the claw pulled it back inside the Yukkurinator's body, and then a glass covering sealed the opening to keep the yukkuri from escaping. The bodied reisen cried while pounding against the glass, and while it was doing so, water slowly filled up the inside until the yukkuri was completely submerged. Suddenly, the inside of the Yukkurinator's body became like that a blender, instantly ripping the yukkuri to shreds. The Smashers and Chen, who was sticking out of the hole made earlier on the sixth cart, watched in horror at the way the mechanical monstrosity killed the yukkuri.

When the "blender" stopped, the glass opened, letting the water that was mixed with the yukkuri's remains flow out. "Oh my god…! That's horrible…!" Fox said in shock.

"What are we waiting for?! Let's go and destroy that thing before it destroys everything!" Falco said.

Master Hand's voice was then broadcasted. "Something big followed us onto the train, right? If that's the case, get rid of it at once! We have around ten or fifteen minutes before we arrive at our destination, so do it quick! In the very least, make sure that not a single part of its body is touching the train when we warp out of here in order to leave it behind in this place!"

"You don't have to tell us that! We have in mind to demolish this thing right from the start!" Falco said as he climbed to the top of the cart he was in. Snake and Link joined him shortly afterwards.

"We've come this far, so no way are we going to let something like this stop us!" Snake said.

"Don't forget that you also have us!" Link said.

"I'm going to pound that thing into scrap metal!" Donkey said.

Chen jumped down in front of them, got into fighting stance, and lengthened her claws. "I'm going to help fight as well! Mistress Yukari wants me to help you people and protect the yukkuris to the end, so I'm going to do my best!"

"I'm going to pound that thing into scrap metal!" Donkey said as he climbed to the top with Mario, Pikachu, and Pichu.

"Eef we work-a together, we can surely defeat-a eet before we reach our destination!" Mario said with confidence.

"I'm with you! We can definitely defeat that thing!" Pikachu said while releasing spark from his cheeks.

"Pichu! That thing's going down!" Pichu said while releasing sparks from his cheeks as well.

Falco took out his gun and pointed at it. "It doesn't matter whether it will speed up the Destructor's resurrection or not, destroying one dinosaur made of scrap metal won't make a big difference! Since you're not a living thing, I'm not going to hold back at all! You're going down completely!"

While the Yukkurinator was programmed to track down and kill yukkuris, it was also programmed to defend itself against attackers. Seeing that the Smashers and Chen were going to harm it, the Yukkurinator let out a roar to show that it was going to fight back and keep them from stopping it from carrying out its task.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

All right, the grand finale of this story is coming up next! Hope you look forward to it!

Oh, the alloys speak in a language that sounds like the "adult language" in the Snoopy animations.


	20. The Fight to Rid Uneasiness

**The final battle is here. I apologize once again for the long wait…**

**Chapter 20  
The Fight to Rid Uneasiness**

* * *

After the train had entered the space between dimensions, the president, while riding his limousine back to his office, noticed through the window the mystias flying in the air fading away until they were gone. "Did they do it?" he wondered. He looked at the streets and noticed all the stray yukkuris fading away until they were no longer in existence. "It seems to be the case… I hope everything is well with them… Good luck, and please give the yukkuris a better place to live in…"

* * *

A man had a family of reimus and nazrins cornered in the alleyway, ready to kill them with a crowbar. The yukkuris closed their eyes and waited for the worst to happen when the man brought down the crowbar, but right when it was about to hit the mother reimu, the entire family disappeared, and the crowbar hit the ground instead. The man was confused and looked around for the whereabouts of the family he wanted to kill.

* * *

Some reimus and marisas were hanging in the air via ropes that were tied to a wooden bar, and an abuser was approaching them with a baseball bat, which he using to lightly hit his hand with.

He chuckled as he looked at the scared and crying yukkuris, and then he pulled back his bat to take a swing at them. When he thought he managed to send them flying into the fence, not only did he saw nothing hanging from the ropes, but there were no splattered yukkuri remains on the fence too. He looked in confusion for them, but never found them.

* * *

A woman was talking with her pet yukkuri in a sad tone, for she knew what was going to happen. "This is for the best of you," she told her alice. "You and your kind will never be able to take it easy for if you continue to stay here. I wish that you will find a good owner in your new home."

"Alice understands easy," the alice said, smiling yet looking sad at the same time. "Alice will find a new easy place over there. Please cheer up, miss! Take it easy!"

The woman smiled as she pet her alice, and suddenly, the latter started to fade away, and then it disappeared. The woman was surprised by this, but then she accepted what happened just now.

* * *

All over the world, yukkuris were disappearing one by one, be it from pet stores, restaurants, factories, houses, or the wildernesses. Yukkuris of all kind and species, whether dead or alive… Everything that was related to yukkuris was fading away.

Store owners who either sold yukkuris or yukkuri-related merchandises knew they had to look for new jobs, abusers were in despair at the loss of something to unleash their anger at, and people who love yukkuris were sad that they would never be able to enjoy time with yukkuris again. Some people, on the other hand, were actually glad that there were no more yukkuris, because they never liked them in the first place and saw them as pests that vandalized stuff, destroyed crops, invaded houses, and trash talked to them.

As the president watched the yukkuris disappear and the reaction of the people from his limousine, he knew that he had to come up with a speech in order to comfort everyone and also convince them that it was time to change a new way of living, a new life without yukkuris…

* * *

**BGM: Quod Erat Demonstrandum (vocal remix of Alice Maestra, sung by Nana Takahashi)**

Despite what the president wished for the Smashers, the latter's journey to the new world was anything but smooth. The mechanical monstrosity known as the Yukkurinator was slowly taking steps forward, undaunted by the intimidation its attackers were displaying.

"Not afraid of coming any closer, are you?" Falco said to it. "Then don't blame us for making a short work out of you! You're going down!" He was going to make a move, but Chen suddenly leaped over him and at the machine, slashing it across the snout using her razor-sharp claws. However, the Yukkurinator's tough exterior caused the nekotama to break her claws instead, though she did leave behind faint slash marks on it.

Chen cried in pain when she lost her claws, and then the Yukkurinator, with a swing of its hand, swatted her away. "Chen!" Fox gasped.

The Yukkurinator let out a roar before running forward to hit Falco with its hand, but the avian back flipped into the air and pulled out his second gun to fire together with the first one at its head. When he landed, Donkey ran past him and pulled back his fist before punching the Yukkurinator in the kneecap, and the force of his punch was strong enough to make the machine take a few steps back.

Link ran to the other kneecap and slashed it rapidly with his sword, but other than leaving behind slash marks, he wasn't able to do any notable damage to the Yukkurinator. Suddenly, jet-like wings appeared from the machine's back, and then it took off into the air and flew next to the train at an equally fast speed. "It can fly too?!" Donkey said in surprise.

The Yukkurinator opened its mouth and released a stream of fire at Donkey and Link, but they managed to get out of the way in time. The Yukkurinator moved forward with fire still coming out from its mouth, so the rest of the Smashers quickly ran ahead to avoid getting hit by it.

"Eat this!" Snake said as he took out a grenade, removed its pin using his mouth, and threw it at the Yukkurinator's mouth, but the machine quickly used its hand to bat the grenade into the air, where it exploded. "This thing is smarter than it looks!"

The Yukkurinator flew up ahead and landed in front of the Smashers. Using its x-ray vision, it was able to tell that the cart it was standing on had yukkuris inside, so it dug through the ceiling with little effort. The caged yukkuris underneath where shocked at the sight of a hand coming down before their eyes.

"Oh no you don't-a!" Mario shouted as he ran towards the Yukkurinator and jumped at it. He performed several flips in the air before falling upright onto the Yukkurinator's head, stomping it really hard and then performing a back flip to land in front of it. The Yukkurinator reached forward to swing down his hand onto the plumber, but he got out of the way. When the Yukkurinator pulled back its hand, it pulled up a piece of the ceiling, thus making the hole even larger and scaring the yukkuris inside even more.

Link fired arrows attached with bombs at the front end at the Yukkurinator, blasting it and covering it in smoke. The machine then ran out of the smoke with its mouth open and headed for Link. Diddy jumped up behind Link and flung a banana peel before him, and when the Yukkurinator stepped on it, it slipped and fell off the train.

"Works every time, doesn't it?" Diddy said.

The Yukkurinator, as it tumbled against the invisible ground, dug its fingers into the side of the train, and then with agile and acrobatic movements that were unexpected for a machine with a bulky appearance, it quickly got back onto the top of the train. When it took a step forward, it was suddenly blasted by a pair of energy balls from behind, so it turned around to see Chen flying after the train at a fast speed. "Blue Oni Red Oni!" she shouted as she formed balls of blue and red energy in each of her hands to throw at the machine.

The machine used its arm to block the incoming shots and then tried to hit Chen with it when she was close, but she avoided it by flying over the machine, performing a flip in the process, and landed in front of the Smashers. "You're all right-a!" Mario said to her.

"I won't be taken down so easily!" she said.

The Yukkurinator ran forward again, and Diddy once again threw a banana peel in front of it, but the machine leaped into the air just before it stepped on it. The Smashers looked up at the former as it fell back down, and then they quickly moved back a cart when it landed and crushed the cart from the middle.

CRASH!

"Didn't get it the second time…" Diddy said.

"Its A.I. is capable of learning from previous mistakes, it seems," Fox said. "This may make it a tough opponent to deal with…"

"We'll just go all-out!" Falco said, taking out a red diamond-like object with the letter "B" on it.

"No! Don't use a smart bomb here! The blast radius will surely destroy the train!" Fox told him.

"Then what other suggestions do you have?! Remember that we have to take out this thing in less than fifteen minutes or so!" Falco said to him. "Are you telling me that there's a faster and better way to deal with it?"

"If you have time to complain, then attack it already!" Snake said while shooting the Yukkurinator with a shotgun. "The more often we attack it, the sooner we can get rid of it!"

While the bullet managed to make dents on the Yukkurinator's body, it wasn't strong enough to deal major damage to it. Despite getting shot several times in the body and the head, it continued to move forward. It then opened its mouth to breathe fire. Fox quickly got in front of everyone and took out his reflector to cause the fire to bounce back to the machine, quickly making it stop the attack.

Donkey then ran at the Yukkurinator while its body was still on fire and jumped at it, slamming down his fists onto its head really hard to knock the whole thing to the surface of the train. However, it was a mistake to attack the machine while it was still on fire for an obvious reason that the gorilla did not think about. "Yeow! Hot!" he cried as he ran back to others with burnt hands.

"Don't be so reckless, will ya?!" Snake scolded him.

Master Hand's voice was then broadcasted. "Is that thing seriously that tough to kill?!" he said. "Looks like we'll need a change of plans! We'll intentionally slow down the speed to drag out the time it takes to get to our destination! In case I haven't told you yet, the time it takes to get to our destination is dependant on the speed. At top speed, it takes about fifteen minutes. I'll cut the speed in half, which will change the time to around thirty minutes instead. That should be enough time to get rid of that thing, I hope."

"Thirty minutes is more than enough!" Falco said. "Taking out this thing shouldn't even take more than fifteen minutes!"

"I wouldn't be so sure, given the location where the fight is taking place, and the fact that we have to make sure that actions don't mess up ourselves…" Fox said.

"If we hold back too much, we'll never be able to take it out in time or even destroy it!" Link said. "We'll have to give it our best shot, but making sure that we don't perform too grand-scaled moves at the same time!"

"Eet all boils down to how well theez thing can take-a hits," Mario said. "From da looks of eet, eet seems to be ratha resilient."

"Resilient or not, that thing's going down!" Falco said.

"Here I go!" Chen said as she ran on all fours towards the Yukkurinator. "Pentagram Flight!" She flew really fast around it in the formation of star, and doing also left behind an energy trail shaped like one. Chen moved back from the machine, and shortly after the star was created, the latter exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOM!

The Yukkurinator roared as it came out of the explosion and ran in their direction. Fox and Falco ran at it, and the former covered his body in fire before shooting at its body. "Fire Fox!"

The latter jumped at the machine's head, and fire appeared around his body temporarily before moving to and gathering at his right foot. "Raging Phoenix Kick!" And he delivered a powerful fiery kick to the Yukkurinator.

SMAAAAAAAAAASH!

The attack caused the Yukkurinator to lose its footing against the side of the train, but it quickly used its wings to fly up into the air. When it was directly above the Smashers and Chen, it opened its mouth and released a huge burst of fire straight downwards, so they quickly moved a cart ahead.

"Wait a minute! I just remembered that the very cart we stood on contains caged yukkuris!" Link said.

"I hope-a they're all right-a in there," Mario said.

"At most, they'll probably feel the temperature rising," Snake said. "The air conditioner should suppress the heat, though."

The Yukkurinator came down to the same level as them and hovered in the area between the cart it attacked earlier and the one they were currently on. The tip of the machine's tail became a blade, and then the Yukkurinator spun in a full circle vertically, bringing down the blade onto the part that was connecting the two carts together.

"Oh no! The train is severed!" Fox gasped in horror.

The back part of the train slowly got left behind, and as much as the Smashers and Chen wanted to do something, they knew they couldn't, for the combined weight of all the carts that were moving away was too heavy for them to pull back, and they had moved too far away too. Though Chen could fly over to those carts, there was nothing she could do afterwards.

The Yukkurinator went after the detached carts, and using the same method it used for severing them from the rest of the train, it cut the first cart in half right down the center, severing the yukkuris that were unfortunate enough to be there in the process. After the cart were cut in half, the Yukkurinator struck it with its tail to send it flying into the air, and the yukkuris inside all flew out. Some of the younger ones died or got injured from hitting the ground.

The ones that survived cried in fear as they tried to escape the Yukkurinator, which started massacring the yukkuris mercilessly. It stomped the ones that were close to it and fired its needle-like fingers at the ones that were a bit of a distance away. An extendable claw came out of its mouth and caught an escaping kanako and then pulled it back inside, crushing it with its teeth afterwards.

An extendable claw came out from the compartment in its body and caught three yukkuris—a sanae, nitori, and toyotosatomimi—one by one and trapped them inside with a glass door. As they cried and rammed against the glass door, the temperature started to increase, and they cried in agony from the intense heat. While they were being scorched, the Yukkurinator continued to kill the screaming and fleeing yukkuris, attacking them with tail whips, missiles, and the aforementioned methods. By the time it killed all the nearby yukkuris, the ones imprisoned inside its body were burned to crisp by the heat. The glass door opened, and the wall at the back of the compartment moved forward to push out the charred carcasses.

After that, it turned to the rest of the carts and destroyed the first one seen with missiles, causing it to explode and the bodied yukkuris inside flying out in flames. Some were killed by the explosion right away, but some survived, though burned and injured. They were all killed by the Yukkurinator in brutal methods afterwards.

Back at the train, the Smashers and Chen were still in shock at what just happened. "Darn it! Darn it! Darn it!" Falco angrily cursed.

"On the bright side, the number of yukkuris it killed doesn't add up to 100," Snake said. "As long as our number doesn't drop below 900, it will be fine."

"How can you still say something like that?" Link said to him. "We just failed to protect quite a number of yukkuris!"

"I'm stating the truth. It's true that something horrible has happened, but we should look on the bright side and realize that not everything is hopeless yet," Snake told him. "Now that this has happened, we have to work even harder to prevent the same thing from happening again. Speaking of which, it's coming back again!"

The Yukkurinator, with the help of its jet-like wings, returned to the train, but while it was still quite a bit of a distance away, it fired missiles at it.

Fox and Falco quickly aimed their guns at the missiles and shot them. All but one was destroyed before they got close to the train. Seeing that it was too dangerous to blow it up at this distance, Fox quickly used his reflector to cause the missile to bounce and spin back to the Yukkurinator, hitting and blasting it in the head. The machine fell back to the floor from the blast, but it quickly got back up again to go after the train.

"Zap Cannon!" Pikachu shouted as he fired a large ball of electricity at the Yukkurinator. It hit the machine when it was on top of the train, and getting hit caused its whole body to be paralyzed, and it fell onto the top.

"My turn!" Pichu shouted as he ran towards the Yukkurinator. "Thunder!" He sent a large thunderbolt into the air, and then it fell back down on top of the machine, zapping it badly.

"Thunderbolt!" Pikachu shouted as he released a large amount of electricity at the machine. Despite getting zapped continuously by electric attacks, the Yukkurinator managed to get back up, and then it lengthened and swung its tail to hit the two Pokemon, but they jumped over it and then returned to the others.

The Yukkurinator then flew into the air and went ahead of the Smashers and Chen. When it was above a cart that had no one on top, it extended its tail and impaled the surface, and when it pulled it back out, it took a screaming koakuma with it. "Darn it! Not another one!" Snake said.

The Yukkurinator swung its tail and somehow made the koakuma fly off the latter, and then with a quick tail swipe, it sliced the yukkuri in half. "This is getting serious now! We must stop it from killing any more yukkuris!" Fox said.

"We know that already!" Falco said.

When the Yukkurinator tried to stick its tail into the train again, Link quickly got underneath the tip of it and used his shield to deflect it to the side, and then Donkey caught it. Donkey pulled the tail to try to get the Yukkurinator to come down, but the machine's tail retracted with a speed that caused the gorilla to be pulled towards it. "Donkey!" Diddy said in shock.

As Donkey got closer to the Yukkkurinator, he let go of his grip on the tail, but the momentum caused him to continue flying in the direction of the machine, and then he gave it a powerful uppercut to the chin. They both fell back onto the train together.

"Nice going, Donkey!" Snake said as everyone approached the gorilla, who got back up while rubbing himself.

The Yukkurinator got back up again and roared at them in anger, and then it took off in the direction of the train's head. "What's eet up-a too now?" Mario wondered. The Smashers and Chen went after the Yukkurinator, who flew ahead of the train, turned around, and came down in front of the head to use its arms to stop the whole thing from moving.

"What the?!" Master Hand said in shock when he saw the machine doing this. The latter planted its feet against the ground, which allowed it make the train come closer and closer to a stop. "We can't stop! The yukkuris that aren't in the train will drop all over the place here, thus allowing this robot to kill them all! Move ahead at max speed NOW!"

"Ljkadfkw!" a yellow alloy replied as he increased the train's speed to the max. While it wasn't able to move at top speed due to the Yukkurinator pushing it, it was able to keep itself from stopping, and the Yukkurinator found itself getting pushed back and its feet getting scraped away as a result. It eventually raised itself into the air slightly so that its feet wouldn't be destroyed.

With its head and arms visible from the top of the train, the Yukkurinator slammed its hands against the surface as hard as it could to try to break through it and destroy it. "Trying to destroy the train now, eh? We won't let you do that!" Falco said to it.

Suddenly, Nitori hopped onto the top of the cart, carrying with her a high tech-looking bazooka. "Sorry to keep you waiting!" she said. "I figured that we might need heavy firepower, so I quickly got busy and made this energy cannon!"

Fox looked at the cannon and took a few seconds to inspect it. "Wow! You actually built something like this in a short amount of time?! You're good!"

"Heheh! Don't underestimate a kappa's skill when it comes to science and technology! I dare say I'm better than every one of you here when it comes to making these kinds of things!" Nitori boasted.

"Cocky, aren't you…?" Snake said.

"Just give it a try now!" Link said. "This thing is going to make us stop if we don't do something fast!"

"Okay! Look and be amazed!" Nitori said as she ran in front of the Smashers and approached the Yukkurinator. She held down the trigger and caused the turret of the cannon to start glowing with green energy. "Hey you, ugly! How about you try eating this? It's all you can eat!"

The Yukkurinator looked at her, and as if responding to what she said, it opened its mouth to attack with a fire breath. Just as the fire was going to come out, Nitori finished charging up her cannon and fired a burst of green energy, and the recoil was so strong that she flew backwards quite a bit. The energy cannon also flew out of her hand and fell off the side of the train. The energy blast went into the Yukkurinator's mouth and, in an instant, blew off the head.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The Smashers used their arms to shield themselves from the explosion, and then they were amazed at the damage the cannon dealt to the Yukkurinator afterwards. "Whoa man! Did you see that?!" Pichu asked.

"Yes! We did it!" Pikachu exclaimed.

Everyone looked at the headless Yukkurinator, which remained in front of the train motionlessly without falling off at all. All of a sudden, the machined raised ones its hands and slammed them against the train again. "What the?! It's still functioning?!" Link gasped.

**BGM: Border of Life (remix of Yuyuko's ****FINAL**** theme by Jun.A of Sound Sepher)**

Despite not having a head, the Yukkurinator continued to function. It fired missiles into the air, and they rained down towards the parts of the trains that contained yukkuris. "Quick! Stop those missiles!" Fox shouted.

"Leave them to me!" Pikachu shouted as he ran to the back. "Thunder!" He sent a large thunderbolt into the air, taking out all the missiles but one. It was about to hit the surface of a cart, but a green laser beam hit it and destroyed it.

"Got that one!" said Nitori, who had a gun sticking out of her backpack.

The Yukkurinator slammed its hands against the top of the train over and over very hard, trying to break through it. Inside, Master Hand said in frustration, "Argh! Enough is enough! You'll regret making me come out to deal with you myself!"

Donkey ran to the Yukkurinator and grabbed its hand as it was coming down to hit the surface again, and then with all his strength, he lifted the machine into the air and judo slammed it behind himself. The Yukkurinator quickly got back up, and due to lacking a head, it was unable to see and thus swung around its arms and tail blindly in an attempt to hit someone.

Falco jumped at it and attacked the shoulder with a fiery kick, while Mario struck it in the back with a fiery punch. Link put a bomb into its compartment and moved away before the former exploded, blowing off pieces of the machine's body.

A mechanical arm came out from Nitori's backpack and caught the Yukkurinator's hand, and then she swung the machine in circles. The Smashers had to duck in order to avoid getting hit by the machine. "Watch where you swing that thing!" Snake shouted. After spinning several times, Nitori let go of the mechanical arm's grip and flung the Yukkurinator far ahead, and it landed in the path of the train.

"Full speed ahead!" Master Hand shouted.

"But that thing is in our way!" Rikako told him.

"I know! And we're going to run it down!" the Hand told him. "With a speed and distance like this, there's no way that thing can still be in one piece after getting hit!"

The Yukkurinator got back up again, and the train charged forward at max speed, eventually getting closer and closer to it. Rikako closed her eyes and shielded herself with her arms, while some of the alloys ducked down with their hands over their heads, but Master Hand remained confident that his plan was going to work.

"Yeah! Run him down!" Pichu shouted. "For the yukkuris! For justice!"

And the train ran into the Yukkurinator, the impact causing pieces of the latter's body to fly everywhere.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

The lack of Luigi, Olimar, and Jigglypuff doing anything in this chapter is due to the fact that I couldn't find a suitable role for them. Compared the Smashers who were in action this chapter, those three aren't strong fighters and aren't very brave either. They're not even the kind of people who have the guts to get on top of a train too, so I didn't give them any role in the final battle. I apologize to anyone who was looking forward to see those three in action…

I emphasized the word "final" in the second "boss theme" in order to let you know that I am specifically referring to Yuyuko's second theme, not the first one.

Well, I think I did my best for this fight. I hope you enjoyed it and will look forward to the final chapter!

**Trivia:  
**1. Quod Erat Demonstradum means "which was to be proved; which was to be demonstrated". I thought of making this song the final battle theme because it's really awesome and fitting for an epic battle. While working on this chapter, I looked up to see if this title has a meaning, and I'd say it fits this final battle quite well. The Smashers are, like, trying to prove that they are doing the right thing by removing yukkuris from the world the latter originally lived in. Think about it…


	21. Take It Easy Forever

**Chapter 21**  
**Take It Easy Forever**

* * *

Luigi was staring at the bun on the plate placed in front of him in silence for several seconds, and such an action was considered by the others to be awkward. Mario asked him, "What-a eez wrong?"

"I'm not sure if I can eat this…" he replied. "The face… It reminds me too much of a yukkuri, and I can't really bring myself to eat yukkuris after that whole ordeal…"

Mario looked at the bun. It reminded him of a yukkuri as well, as it was decorated with a face made of hard and colored sugar, and the shaved coconut on top of it resembled hair. "I can understand what you mean…"

"And the reason he didn't come out to help us was because he it's too tiring to fly after the train while fighting," Link said to Zelda and whoever was listening to him.

"He does have a point," Zelda said. "He doesn't move by walking, but floating, so it's obvious that he needs to keep on moving in order to avoid getting left behind. If floating was my only way of movement, I would stay inside the train the whole time too.

"Yeah, you have a point… But things wouldn't have gone so bad if he came out to help…" Link said. "Taking out that robot shouldn't take more than a minute for him."

"Be happy that you managed to win and bring those yukkuris or whatever they're called to that world in the end," Ganondorf told him.

"What happened after that?" Yoshi asked with a mouthful of bread.

"I think I'll let Snake carry on from here," said Link, looking at the cloned soldier.

"We rammed that robot into pieces with the train, and then we eventually arrived at that world," Snake said. "End of story."

"That's all?" Kirby asked with a mouthful of ham and bread.

"Well, sort of…" Fox said. "Anyway, after arriving at that world…"

* * *

_FLASHBACK_

With the exception of the yukkuris, everyone inside the train stepped out into the train station they stopped at after the train appeared from a bright flash. "So this is the world you we're letting the yukkuris stay in?" Olimar asked.

"Doesn't look different from the one we were previously in," Luigi said. "It doesn't even look different from our world either."

"Just because it's an alternate universe doesn't mean it looks drastically different, you know," Master Hand told him. "Yukkuris do not exist in this world, only normal animals we see everyday. The people here are, for the most part, nicer. Because of this, we're sure that they won't abuse yukkuris for fun."

Eiki, Yukari, Ran, and a fat man with a white, bushy beard came over to them. "I see that you have managed to arrive safely at this world," Eiki said to them.

"Our trip here was anything but safe…" Snake said. "Still, we managed escape the fangs of the viper and get here alive, albeit not in one piece."

"What happened?" Yukari asked.

"Arnold simply refuses to give up," Fox said. "We were attacked by a robot that we believe is sent by him to stop us. It managed to take away an entire cart and murder all the yukkuris in there. Thankfully, the number of yukkuris did not drop below 900, so all the yukkuris that were left behind in that world were still transported here, I think…"

Mario looked around and said, "I think-a we have our ansa already." The Smashers looked and saw yukkuris appearing in bursts of light in various places.

"Good to see that we've succeeded!" Pikachu happily said.

The man with a bushy beard looked at the yukkuris and said, "So those are the creatures that are going to make their home in this world, eh? Such peculiar beings! I think they're pretty adorable too! I'd imagine that they be popular with women and kids!"

"Allow me to introduce to you the president of this country," Eiki said to the Smashers.

They looked at the man, and Fox said, "So you're the president of this city?"

"Yep! That's me!" he said. "I was surprised to be visited by the judge of afterlife all of a sudden one day! I thought my days were numbered and that she was here to warn me of it, but then she assured me that such a thing wasn't happening. Boy! Was I shocked that time, and I sure am glad that things aren't like that! She did tell me that I'm a righteous man who will most likely go to heaven, so it may not be that bad if my days really are numbered! Hahaha!"

"I like you already!" Pichu said. "Your appearance also reminds me of Santa Claus!"

"Hahaha! I get that a lot!" the president said. "I even dressed up as him once during Christmas! People weren't able to tell that I'm their president when I did that!"

"Haha! That's funny!" the Pokemon said while laughing.

"Anyway, I'm sure that the judge has told you everything," Fox said.

"Yes, she told me everything regarding these yukkuris," the president said to him. "I can't believe that people actually enjoying abusing these cute things and seeing them suffer! Fear not! Rest assure that these yukkuris will find happiness and safety in this place! I will make sure that they do not receive ill treatment!"

"However, please be reminded that not all yukkuris are lovable," Snake told him. "We've met one that is very despicable, and surely there are more of those kinds."

"I've been told about that as well. Don't worry; we will judge things fairly if we come across yukkuris like that," the president said. "Even the worst and most despicable trash deserves fair treatment and not be deprived of humanity."

"That's true, but sadly, not everyone thinks the same," Eiki said.

"Indeed," said Ran, thinking of the way foul-mouthed yukkuris were treated in the previous world.

The Smashers then exited the train station to look at the yukkuris that were all over the place and the people who were confused and surprised at the appearance of these never-seen-before bun-like creatures, some of which resembled human children. "I did tell the citizens of this thing happening, but it looks like I'll have to make another public announcement regarding this," the president said. "It's time to adapt everyone to living a life with these new creatures."

_END OF FLASHBACK_

* * *

The Smashers who returned from their adventure continued talking about the things they went through to their comrades. "Then with Yukari's help-a, we all came back-a to Onett," said Mario, concluding the story.

"Wow… You guys went through quite a lot…" Mr. Game & Watch said.

"It had to be done," Luigi said. "Otherwise, that world will face the terror of the Destructor. Now that we've finally put an end to yukkuri abuse, Master Hand said the amount of killing and destruction given off from that world has fallen drastically, and he is sure that the Destructor will not be resurrected in that world when the time comes."

"Also according to him, the Destructor will most likely be resurrected in this world instead," Pikachu said, "but happening here is better than there, because all of us can easily deal with him when that time comes. We have the Holy Weapons on our side after all!'

"Master Hand also said that the government is also ready to deal with the Destructor," Fox said. "Apparently, they have Hand scientists working for them, and the former used their DNAs to create weapons capable of defeating Darkling. They even infused their DNA into soldiers to give them such ability!"

"The government has stuff like that?!" Dr. Mario said in surprise.

"Yeah, we were very surprised to hear such a thing too," Link said.

"All this time, I thought we were the only ones in the world capable of defeating Darkling…" Ness said. "Looks like we're not so unique anymore…"

"Oh, and by the way," Captain Falcon asked, "what about the people who came from that placed called… Gensokyo? Is that what it's called?"

"Obviously, they went back there after dropping us back here," Snake said. "They also told us to pay that place a visit when we feel like it. If only she told us where in Japan it is…"

"Yeah, she forgot to tell us where in Japan we can find that place," Fox said. "Apparently, it's a place where not even Google Earth can detect."

"Well, I guess we probably won't be able to go there," Captain Falcon said as he poured milk into his glass. "Though perhaps by luck, we may unintentionally stumble upon it if we decide to go to Japan for vacation some day."

"Japan may not be the biggest country, but what are the chances of such a thing happening?" Marth said. "I'd say the chances are next to none."

The Smashers then continued eating their breakfast while talking with other various things, mainly about yukkuris. "I feel like I'm going to miss them…" Luigi said while tearing the bun apart for easier eating.

"Who?" Mario asked.

"The yukkuris we first came across and later saved," Luigi told him.

"Oh, them," Mario said. "Yeah, they grew attached to uz, so eet wuz kinda sad that-a we have to leave them. Eet couldn't-a be helped… Apparently, our world-a eezn't considered that-a safe for yukkuris too. We should-a be happy that-a they finally found-a a place where they can live in peace. Surely they will not-a forget about uz, and eetz not-a like we didn't leave something for them too!"

* * *

"Who are these mister humans?" a marisa asked a reimu while looking at a photograph that was leaning against the wall.

"Those are nice misters who gave reimu's little ones something to eat and later saved us when a mean mister killed our father and some of reimu's children," the reimu replied. "They are very nice, so we like them a lot! But they have to go back to their easy place, and we cannot go back with them. They say their easy place is a not place where yukkuris can take it easy, so they took a picture of reimu and her children with them and then gave it to us as a gift."

"Really? They are nice misters who can take it easy, then-ze!" the marisa said.

The reimu and her family who befriended the Smashers found a new father shortly after arriving at the new world, and they quickly found a new home in a small cave at the bottom of a small cliff. The children belonging to the reimu were playing outside, and then some kids came over and saw them. "It's those strange human head-like creatures that showed up recently!" one of the boys said.

"Wow! They're cute!" a little girl said. "I want to play with them!"

"Careful… They may bite…" another boy said.

The kids slowly approached the koyukkuris, and the latter told them to take it easy before bouncing in their direction and rubbing against their legs. Seeing that these yukkuris were harmless, the kids bent down and touched, petted, and picked them up. The reimu and the marisa watched happily from the cave entrance at the koyukkuris happily playing with the kids in peace. "This is the first time remiu saw her children playing happily with mister humans' kids!" the reimu said.

"Me too! The mister humans here are very nice!" the marisa said. "We can really take it easy here-ze!"

"Thank you very much, nice misters!" the reimu said in her head while thinking about the Smashers. "Thank you for bringing us to a place where we can really take it easy!"

* * *

Back in the world where the yukkuris came from, the president had finished giving a speech of encouragement to everyone, convincing them that it was time to accept what happened and move on with life—a life without yukkuris.

It wasn't as if yukkuris were the most important thing in their life. As long there exists other kinds of animals, they could always continue to make a living. All companies and stores dealing with yukkuri-related businesses closed down, even Yu-Abuse Incorporated; therefore, many people had to look for new jobs. People who took pleasure in abusing yukkuris and those who loved yukkuris slowly accepted this and adapted to living a life without them.

Arnold was reported to be seen running around the countryside every once in a while, screaming at the top of his voice in anger. No one ever went to restrain him, however, and at times, it would seem like he disappeared and not be seen for quite a while, only to have reports of sightings of him again after some time.

* * *

In the world that the yukkuris were transported to, news of a new species of creatures showing up was quickly made known all over the place. The yukkuris were considered by many people to be adorable, so they quickly became popular among everyone.

However, as the yukkuris were new them, people didn't take them in as pets right away, and some even took caution around them, fearing that they might possess danger. Scientists quickly went to study the yukkuris, obviously to learn more about them.

A lot about yukkuris had to be looked into and studied by the people of this world. How they could made into pets, how they could help them in life, and what should be done if they vandalized, broke into houses, or trash talked to them… All these were things that the people of this world would find the solutions to one day.

Yukkuri abuse was unheard of. The only abuses came from sadistic and wicked people, and such people were looked down upon and brought to justice if caught. Scum yukkuris would sometime demand sweets from people they come across, but the people would just ignore them and continue on their way, or they would say something back to them, letting them know that they should watch their mouths. At most, they would just shove them away before continuing on their way.

If one were to ask a random yukkuri which place it could take it easier in more, this world or the previous world, it would surely reply, "Reimu can take it easy more in this world more!"

* * *

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_Take it easy forever, yukkuris…_

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_THE END_

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* * *

And thus the end of the story…

If I offended anyone with the contents of this story and the way the yukkuri fandom is portrayed, then I sincerely apologize to you.

Again, this story was originally intended to bash the abuse fandom, but over time, I gradually threw away such an idea and thought of making a yukkuri story that is very different from all the other kinds found out there instead. To make sure that I am not fueled by rage when doing this story, I refuse to work on it for some time if I see any abuse-related pictures.

Even after saying this, I cannot shake away the thought that some people are still offended by some of the things in this story and still see it as an excuse to get back at and mock the abuse fandom. If you still think like this, even after what I said, then so be it.

But what of the Destructor? That is of no concern to this story anymore, and whether or not I will make a story that details the Destructor's resurrection is yet to be decided, and even if I did make that story, it won't have anything to do with this one. In the very least, the event of this story will be mentioned, but it won't be anything important at all.

Will I make the Smashers visit Gensokyo? That's something only the future can tell.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this story and look forward to possible new stories from me in the future! I can't say anything at the moment, but hope for the best!

God bless you all!


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